5 Ways to Create a Safer Production Process

Published September 17, 2019

Every manufacturing crew dreads the moment the department “days without incident” counter drops from triple or quadruple digits back to zero. Injuries are a serious matter, especially when your company prides itself on prioritizing employee and operator safety. If your company already has safety measures in place, double-checking them on a regular basis is vital to the continued safety of your workforce. 

No matter how vigilant companies are in their efforts to provide a safe, injury-free workplace, there’s always room for improvement. How can your company improve its existing machine manufacturing procedures to keep workplace safety a high priority?

Planning for Accidents

It’s impossible to avoid accidents and injuries altogether. However, emergency action plans, up-to-date machinery, and continued employee training all work together to create a safer production process. The first step in minimizing injuries and prioritizing safety isn’t OSHA compliance, or switching out old machinery for streamlined equipment. Instead, the best way to plan for accidents is to first create a company-wide culture of safety.

The shift from compliance to a true workplace safety mindset doesn’t happen overnight. It requires intentional time, effort, and training to cultivate this kind of atmosphere. Once the shift happens, though, employee safety and workplace efficiency can be maximized in the long run. An effective way to jumpstart the mindset shift from squeaking past compliance regulations to having a genuine desire for safety to prevail is to introduce emergency action plans (EAP’s) to the workplace.

The Necessity of EAP’s

A written document required by particular OSHA standards, an EAP should outline and organize a plan of action to be followed by all employees in the case of a workplace emergency. Covering every position from office assistants and machine operators to managers, having a working EAP in place ensures that every member of your team knows his or her role in handling unplanned accidents and injuries. In addition to ensuring OSHA compliance, EAP’s smartly simplify what could otherwise be a complex process of organizing a chaotic situation. With your employees invested in their own safety and the safety of others, your production line will be better prepared to take emergencies seriously. 

Keep Your Employees Safer With These 5 Tips

In addition to having a working EAP in place and regularly running through the EAP in preparation for a real workplace emergency, there are a few more measures you can implement to make your production operations safer. Here are a few tips to help ensure that your workplace and production processes are equipped to handle unplanned situations.

Enforce Breaks

In the midst of a busy production day, it’s easy to forget a lunch break or neglect to take those quick 15 minutes to relax and refocus on the task at hand. However, when employees skip these needed times of rest, productivity decreases, stress increases, and accidents can happen. Even when breaks aren’t legally required on a certain shift, employers often choose to give them because they understand that performance is better when employees are cared for. If your employees are neglecting their break time, encourage them to start taking them to give their minds and bodies the rest they need to work efficiently.

Request Feedback

No one knows the ins-and-outs of a given machine better than the operators and employees who work with them regularly. If you have doubts regarding the safety of your existing production process, ask your machinery operators for feedback and areas of potential improvement. You may find that they have safety concerns that could easily be addressed with a switch in procedure.

Utilize Smarter Robotics Systems

One of the most effective ways to eliminate injuries is to keep your machinery and robotics systems running at full capacity. Missing software updates or choosing not to replace parts when new pieces are needed will undoubtedly leave gaps in efficiency and make your employees more vulnerable to accidents and machine malfunctions. If it’s time for a complete changeover, upgrading to cutting-edge machinery will only better your workplace.

Encourage Continuing Education

While machinery and robotics updates are crucial to ensuring a safer production process, these changes will mean little if employees don’t receive proper training to use them well. Consider bringing in a representative from your machinery company to train employees on new equipment, or dedicating time on a monthly basis to instruct or refresh employees, broadening their understanding of the machinery and your industry as a whole. 

Make Time for Safety

Although machinery updates and employee training go a long way in creating a safety-minded culture, continue the dedication to safety by sharing tips and training at company meetings, weekly check-in’s, and any other appropriate events. Even small, quick tips, like encouraging crews to remember ear and eye protection, refreshing where fire extinguishers are located, and making sure employees can locate emergency exits, go a long way in reinforcing workplace safety.

Prioritize Operator Safety With Certified Packaging Machinery

Safer production processes rely on simple, smart machines. If you have doubts about the safety of your automated packaging machinery, consider INSITE. Our advanced robotics systems, intentional designs, and 24/7 customer service can streamline your packaging operations while protecting the health and safety of your operators. Contact us today to learn more about how you can start creating a safer production process.