September 15, 2020 Managing Safety at Your Factory

Tips for improving safety in the factory.

Safety is a top priority for any factory, but there’s always room for improvement. When you’re working in a busy environment with heavy equipment, there is the potential for accidents, which means people always have to be alert and complacency cannot kick in.  

To make sure this doesn’t happen in your factory, here are some tips for improving safety.  

Perform a health and safety audit  

If you’re going to improve safety, then you’ve first got to know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. A health and safety audit is the perfect place to start in judging your current safety protocols and identifying areas that need improvement.  

One of the most important parts about a safety audit such as this one is that you make it a collaborative process. There are so many different areas of safety in a factory, and you need people on your team with real knowledge of the workings of these different areas. The more people you have buy in to the process, the more thorough your audit is likely to be.  

Champion training  

Training is one of the most effective ways to increase safety in any business, and it’s particularly true in a manufacturing setting. However, training isn’t just something you can do once and get out the way; it’s a continual effort that takes investment and effort.  

Safety training isn’t exactly something that excites your employees, but it’s a necessity and you can take steps to make it more interactive and exciting. At the end of the day though, you can’t expect people to maintain the highest safety standards if they’ve not had the right level of training.  

Invest in this area, and you will see improvements.  

Manage building entry  

Factories can be busy, potentially dangerous places, and you need to make sure only authorised people have access to sensitive areas. This has become particularly prevalent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where it’s more important than ever to manage flows of people.  

Throughout a big factory it’s almost impossible to rely on security to manage access, but fortunately technology can step in. With the right personnel management solutions, you can have much better control over who has access to which places, even adding in more complicated processes like scanning for fever.  

This can help keep your workers and visitors safe as well as helping to protect your property.  

Prioritize janitorial services 

Keeping your factory clean and tidy, and in good working condition is an absolute necessity. However, on such a large scale, it can be very challenging.  

So many hazards arise from poor cleaning, and it’s often the simplest oversights that can lead to the biggest accidents. Your factory can’t afford to have haphazard janitorial practices, and this is why it’s essential to work with a highly professional company like Kleenway’s janitorial services. 

Allow your workers to get on with their work in a safe, secure environment, and let the industry professionals take care of your janitorial services. The right company can make all the difference and work with you to increase safety.  

Create a culture of reporting  

Communication is key to overcoming any problem. Accidents can be prevented when people report problems before they escalate, and you need to foster this practice within your factory.  

Many, many accidents are avoidable if people are encouraged to report their concerns, and there’s a robust process to deal with them. It’s when people walk by something and think “oh, that looks dangerous” but don’t do anything about it that you have a real problem.  

Like anything though, you need to make it easy and convenient for people to report things, and you need to demonstrate that when they do you take action. If not, then it’s more likely that people won’t report vital information to the relevant people.  

Take care of the basics 

They may seem like small things, but the basics make a huge difference. Things like making sure protective equipment is being worn, mopping up spillages, and ensuring emergency exits aren’t blocked are the basics you need to be getting right 100% of the time.  

Unfortunately, you can get these things right 99% of the time, and the 1% will come back to bite you, so it’s really important you’ve got the right protocols in place. These things might be simple in themselves, but the difficult bit is making sure they’re being practiced 100% of the time.  

Ensuring safety starts with the basics, so make sure this is a top priority. 

James Daniels

James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics. 

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