September 4, 2019 Essential Safety Rules for Manufacturers

A look at four essential safety rules for manufacturing businesses.

September 2, 2019

Every employer has a duty of care towards their workers. It doesn’t matter whether your workers are in an office, a construction site, or on a production line, you need to make sure that you provide them with a safe working environment and all the equipment and training that they need to stay safe and avoid injuries.

Here are four essential safety rules that need to be at the heart of the way you run your manufacturing business.

Reporting Procedures

Whenever anyone in your employ comes across something that they consider to be unsafe or potentially dangerous, it is vital that they report it to management. For your part, you need to make sure that everyone understands what the reporting procedures are. There should never be any doubt or confusion in your workers’ minds about what they should and can do if they have any health and safety concerns.

Responding to Reports

Of course, encouraging your workers to report any issues is pointless if you don’t also take action to fix issues as they are reported to you. You need to make sure that all of the supervisors and managers that your workers are likely to report their issues to know how to respond to them and what action to take.

Let’s say that a worker reports an issue with your warehouse flooring such as damage to the structure. Concrete is a popular option for industrial flooring, largely because it is stronger and more durable than the alternative epoxy floor – it is one of the most common flooring options for warehouse environments. However, concrete still ages, and in a manufacturing setting, it can quite conceivably become cracked and damaged. If this happens, BECOSAN UK can help you out. Compared to a regular concrete floor, polished concrete is tougher and more durable. BECOSAN concrete finishing will provide your floors with added protection, toughening the concrete, providing abrasion resistance and reducing maintenance costs.

Providing Proper Training for Tools and Machinery

Another responsibility that will fall on your shoulders is ensuring that only workers who have received the appropriate training are using tools and equipment. Even the most mundane piece of machinery can present a serious safety hazard if not used correctly.

It is important that all your workers understand who among them is able to use each piece of equipment and that they don’t feel tempted to use something that they haven’t been trained in, no matter how quickly they intend to use it.

Making Safety Equipment Easily Available

It’s not enough to just have all the necessary safety equipment present on your site; you also need to make sure that your workers know where to find it and how to use it correctly. Complacency around safety equipment is one of the most common reasons that workers become injured unnecessarily while working in manufacturing environments.

Workplace safety is mostly a case of employing common sense and making sure that you maintain standards. If you implement effective safety procedures and ensure that all of your workers are sticking to them, it will soon become second nature throughout your business.

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