If you’re running your own industrial manufacturing plant, you probably already know how important safety is and you’ll already have your workers compensation insurance. You always need to make sure the site stays secure and safe, along with ensuring the safety of anyone on-site at all times – whether they’re employees or visitors. In this article, we’re going to have a look at a number of different tips that could help make your site more secure and ensure top-level safety at all times.
1. Provide the right training
Your employees can’t carry out dangerous work on a manufacturing site if they haven’t had the right training. This should be one of your main priorities whenever you hire a new member of staff. Nobody should be allowed to carry out work until they’ve been trained to a suitable standard. Training is important not just for regular work tasks, but also general health and safety procedures. For employees carrying out more menial tasks, they still need to know what’s going on and how to perform their job safely alongside other more-skilled workers.
2. Provide the best safety gear
Depending on the sort of work that’s being carried out, you still need to make sure your staff always have access to the highest-quality safety gear. Things like goggles, heavy gloves, and steel-capped boots are important on many sites. You might also want to make sure everyone wears high-visibility jackets at all times, depending on the specifics of your manufacturing plant.
3. Make sure you’ve got the latest and safest equipment
Aside from actual safety gear that your employees should be wearing, you also want to make sure that everyone is equipped with the best safety equipment and tools so that they can carry out their job at an effective level. These high speed roll-up doors can make your workplace extra safe.
4. Make sure all work is supervised
Don’t allow employees to work alone in your site, no matter how safe you or they think they’ll be. Always make sure you’ve got senior employees on the floor carrying out supervisory roles. This can be a great promotion route for current floor employees so that can also be something they’d like to work towards. Make sure all your supervisors are highly experienced and professional, with keen attention to detail.
5. Make sure the area is well-ventilated
Most manufacturing plants will need good ventilation, especially if you’re producing certain products. Make sure you’ve got ventilation sorted and checked regularly. If you can’t ventilate your whole plant, make sure the right ventilation is provided in the most at-risk areas.
6. Make sure your site is well-lit
Just like good ventilation, a busy manufacturing plant will need to be well-lit, too. This can sometimes be difficult with a large area – but it’s still important. Installing new lighting throughout your site might be expensive, but it’s an important step towards ensuring safety. It’s not an expense you should skimp on.
7. Make sure you perform regular safety checks
Your staff should have a structured set of procedures and checks that they need to perform every day. All equipment should be checked regularly, and tests performed to make sure everything is still in full working order.
8. Make sure you re-train when necessary
When new safety procedures are released, you’ll want to make sure all your staff is aware of them. Even if nothing has changed, a good refresher course of training at regular intervals is normally a good idea. Just because someone was trained once, that doesn’t mean they can remember everything.
9. Make sure you’ve got the right licenses
Try and encourage your employees to study towards different safety licenses. It could be a good idea for their career, and it’ll help keep your site even more secure. There are many different health and safety qualifications they can work towards. You’ll also want to make sure your site has the right licenses to carry out specific work, as well as making sure your managers have the right qualifications to supervise effectively.
10. Hire experts if you need to
If you’re having specific problems with the safety and security of your site, you can turn to external experts to come in and give everything a second look. They’ll be able to spot any issues with your safety procedures much more easily, and they’ll also be able to provide a level of training you might not be able to give yourself.
11. Make sure you’ve planned for accidents
Make sure everyone knows what to do if there’s an accident on site. Rehearse safe and effective clean-up procedures, and run mock evacuations. Everyone should know where to go and want to do if they need to.
12. Make sure visitors are supervised
Nobody who visits your site should be left alone at any time while on your premises. This is for their own safety, as well as the security and integrity of your business. Again, give them a high-visibility jacket and a hard-hat if necessary. Make sure effective supervision is given to visitors at all times.
13. Install CCTV or similar
Installing a suitable commercial video surveillance system will help you on a number of levels. You’ll help keep your site secure from intruders, but it will also help with internal surveillance and safety checks. You’ll be able to supervise remotely and more effectively if you can check everything on video, and it could help keep your staff professional at all times.
14. Keep logs
If there are any incidents such as spillages or breakages, keep detailed logs. These logs will help you plan procedures better and adapt the way your business works so that you can be more efficient and effective.
Hopefully, these tips have been enough to get you looking in the right direction. Workplace safety is important at all times, especially if you run a busy industrial plant. Make sure all your staff treats workplace safety as important as you do. Provide regular checks and training, and put the right procedures in place to keep safe at all times.
