“Safety first.” It’s a mantra I hear from almost every manufacturer, every manager, and every line supervisor I encounter. But if that’s truly the case—that safety is their #1 priority—why are so many people dying in manufacturing plants?
With an average of 85 people killed each year and roughly one person per day suffering an amputation on a plant floor, we’re a far cry from “zero tolerance.”
In almost every situation, these accidents aren’t because employees are careless. It’s because their leadership has failed them.
Too often, whether intentionally or implicitly, plant leaders prioritize productivity over safety. They may not overtly suggest that employees cut corners, but the pressure to hit KPIs is so intense that employees may feel they have no choice.
There’s no time to follow lock-out/tag-out procedures to the letter. No time to fully shut down a machine to clear a jam. It’s less hassle just to fix the issue quickly or work around it and keep rolling than to try and justify the shutdown to their supervisor, who’s also under pressure from their boss to meet production targets.
Ironically, what many manufacturing leaders fail to recognize is that, in most cases, there is a direct correlation between poor safety and poor quality and performance. In almost every facility where safety is an issue, they also fail to meet KPIs and QC targets. The performance pressure has the opposite of the desired effect. And it’s time to right that ship.
At TBM, our approach to solving manufacturing challenges revolves around a specific formula: safety, quality, on-time delivery, at the lowest possible cost—in that order. We encourage our clients to prioritize their team first, the customer second and the company third. This order isn’t random, it’s intentional.
Simply put: you must get safety right before you can solve any of the other issues.
Manufacturers have a tremendous opportunity—and a responsibility—to establish a culture of uncompromising safety through strong leadership, simple processes and constant vigilance.
Here’s how:
- Protect your assets. Your people and property are your two most valuable assets. That means there’s no room for compromise regarding safety procedures or equipment maintenance. In addition to ample training and routine practice of safe procedures, all equipment should be impeccably maintained to avoid malfunction—which is when most accidents happen.
- Address unsafe conditions. There are unsafe acts—employees doing something they shouldn’t—and there are unsafe conditions. You have total control over the latter. Ensure that all safety features on machinery are in place and people have the right equipment they need to work safely. That includes having working safety guards, removing tripping hazards, good housekeeping, clear signage and safety indicators, and 100% compliance with PPE.
- Train on the how and the why. Safety training most often focuses on how to do things properly, but you must also train staff on why. Be clear about the risks of not following procedures or using appropriate gear. Make them aware of injury potential, as well as how the cost of accidents impacts the company and potentially their compensation.
- Insist employees speak up about issues. Create an environment where employees feel safe to bring up issues without worry of being threatened or silenced. The surest way to avoid a whistleblower situation is to keep an open dialogue with operators. And when they do speak up, address the concern. If you acknowledge it, but don’t fix it, employees will soon think, “Why bother?” and stop reporting safety hazards.
- Don’t tolerate shortcuts. Zero tolerance means zero tolerance. When you overlook one infraction, it sends a message that you’re OK with not following processes, which will soon spill over into other areas. Before you know it, unsafe conditions and sloppy procedure has propagated the plant floor. Don’t be afraid to take bold action if you encounter flagrant disregard of policy or procedure. Even if you’re struggling with headcount, a suspension or termination is far less of a disruption and expense than an accident with injury or death.
- Establish and audit Standard Work. In addition to documenting the proper steps and quality tolerances for each manufacturing process, include safety protocols and ergonomics in Standard Work documentation. Audit these procedures at regular intervals to ensure they’re being followed consistently.
- Implement job rotation. Cross training and cross work—where operators perform different tasks on a rotating basis has two benefits. First, it reduces repetitive stress injuries—often the #1 safety issue in manufacturing plants. Second, it reduces complacency. When you perform the same mundane task over and over, it’s easy to tune out, lose focus and forget key steps: a recipe for an accident. By introducing variety, employees can avoid overworking certain parts of their bodies and stay mentally sharp.
- Do regular cross-departmental safety tours. It’s easy to overlook safety hazards when you see them every day. It’s called “familiarity blindness,” and it’s a common factor in workplace accidents. Safeguard against this by bringing in staff from another department to conduct a regular safety walk-thru or audit of areas in which they don’t typically work. Their unfamiliarity will help them spot issues in the environment that those who spend eight or more hours a day in it might overlook.
- Use technology appropriately. Plenty of sensors and detection systems are available to ensure safe operation—from the sensors on table saws that can distinguish wood from something that’s not wood (a finger, for example) to dead man switches, light curtains, and more. These should be implemented broadly and generously where it makes sense. However, these must also be tested regularly for reliability, checked to ensure employees aren’t overriding them, and training must be robust so that staff don’t get over-confident with them. These are fail-safes, not a first line of defense. Good practices must come first.
- Don’t fall for the “success” trap. If your safety audit score is 100% for 20 weeks in a row, that’s a problem. The situation on the shop floor is far too dynamic to be perfect all the time, and this “success” can build unwarranted confidence. Instead of focusing on how good the score is, focus on how many issues you can find. Even in the safest facilities, there’s always something that can be improved.
Manufacturing leaders have a moral obligation to prioritize safety but it’s also a smart business strategy. Safe working conditions reduce liability and related costs, and support workforce retention and recruitment.
Prioritizing safety also directly enhances quality and productivity for two reasons. First, safe conditions send a message to staff that you value them as human beings, which can make them feel more engaged and committed to doing exceptional work. Second, following Standard Work procedures to ensure safety enhances quality and efficiency by default.
Besides the fact that it’s simply immoral to sacrifice staff safety to hit quality and productivity KPI targets, putting safety first allows you to achieve all three.
