How to Update Safety Regulations in Your Manufacturing Environment

Posted October 11, 2013

Here in the U.S., there are about 7,000 warehouses employing more than 140,000 workers. It’s no wonder that—unfortunately—this industry suffers hundreds of fatalities a year. How can your manufacturing environment avoid being part of that statistic? It’s time to do a walkthrough of your facility and a read-through of your safety procedures to make sure you’re compliant and careful.

Injuries and deaths in manufacturing environments are often caused by improper use of heavy machinery such as forklifts, inappropriate materials handling, and insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE). For your manufacturing workers’ general safety, make sure your facility:

• has proper lockout/tagout procedures.
• is well ventilated.
• keeps floors, aisles and surfaces free from clutter, hoses, spills, electrical cords and other materials or factors that could cause slips, trips or falls.
• installs proper guards for exposed or open loading dock doors.

As for your employees themselves, make sure you factor in enough time for proper work practices when determining parameters and requirements for tasks—don’t force your employees to rush and possibly make dangerous errors.

And take care of your workers throughout the day. Make sure those who perform intense physical activity have sufficient rest breaks to avoid fatigue and those who work in hot and humid environments are trained in how to avoid heat stress. In fact, all new hires should receive plenty of training, in both general ergonomics training and task-specific training.

To ensure that your facility continues to be both safe and efficient, form a safety committee! Choose its members from specific groups in your organization, such as warehouse floor workers, shift supervisors and department managers. This ensures that each group gets a voice, but keeps the committee’s size to a manageable number of participants.

The committee should review common safety concerns including:

• Accident reporting
• Safety rules and guidelines
• Condition of the work environment
• Use of safety equipment

Maintaining an efficient safety culture is a continuous effort, not a one-time deal.  Careful planning and dedication are both necessary to keep manufacturing workers injury-free.

How do we know so much about it? We develop and maintain strong relationships with our manufacturing clients, which includes getting to know their businesses inside and out. That’s how we can fill our clients’ positions so easily and so well! Want to know more? If you are looking for manufacturing staffing agencies, contact Ambassador Personnel today.