Top 5 Safety Tips for 2010
 May. 4, 2010

There are top 5 lists for everything, so safety tips should not be an exception. I’m not saying these alone create a comprehensive safety program, but if you make them part of your safety culture I believe they will enhance your organization’s chances for safety success and keep you compliant with OSHA regulations during the year. They are ageless and timeless, so without further delay:

1. Maintain a clean work area. This affords a couple of benefits. First, you will remove many hazards from a work area by keeping it clean, and second, you will also maintain a more productive work environment for your employees.

2. Use engineering solutions and guarding wherever possible instead of relying on employees to use the proper personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE is important and effective, but hard to police and can be uncomfortable to wear. Guarding and engineering solutions are ways to prevent the exposure, without relying entirely on human behaviors.

3. Give clear work instructions. Make sure your employees know the right (safe) way to complete a work task. Don't just provide workers with a list of things not to do. Include safety instructions in every procedure you write and teach.

4. Spend time getting to know the work your employees do. Even if you once did that job, it very likely is now done differently by different people with different tools. Look at what people are actually doing and compare this to what is written in procedures. If the procedures are different from the actual practice, find out why, determine what is safe and re-train your employees.

5. Maintain you tools and machinery in good working order. Many times employees get into dangerous situations by having to compensate for a machine defect or a tool that is not working properly. A strong preventive maintenance program makes for an effective safety program.      

If you have a safety tip, let us know at wcgroup@cmta.net . We’d like to share your success stories with other manufacturers and help them create a safer place to work. That drives down workers’ compensation costs and that’s good for all manufacturers.

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