A manufacturing business can be a tricky one to run, simply because the sector itself comes with plenty of caveats. Indeed, one of the most difficult of these to manage is the safety protocol; you and your team are working with potentially dangerous materials and machines day in and day out, and being mindful of that takes effort.
Which is why it’s time to ask yourself: have you built your manufacturing business to be safe? By using the provisions below, you should be able to answer this question in no time. Make sure you’re working with health and safety in mind using these ideas.
Train Your Staff
The first thing to make sure of is that your staff are trained properly, and go through regular refreshers courses to ensure their work follows code. You can do this either in-house or offsite, whichever works best for you, but it needs to happen at least every couple years.
You’re aiming to both keep your workers safe as well as improve the way they work, and increase their capabilities year by year. The more you can do now, the more you can reap later, and that’s essential for growth within the manufacturing world. After all, you’re only as strong as your team.
Regularly Test Your Machines
Having a set of machines on site is one of the most dangerous things you’ll deal with as a manufacturing company. However, many safeguarding tests are in place to eliminate the chances of your workers getting injured while on the factory floor. So, if it’s been a while since you ran a machine guarding risk assessment, now’s the time to put one in place!
In doing so, not only do you enable your workers to stay safe during their shifts, but you also get a much better overview of how your business is running. You see how operations are moving, what materials you’re using, and whether you’re producing too much waste product and/or downtime. Having this knowledge on your side helps you to safeguard your company as a whole against any future problems in turn.
Clearly Signpost Your Workplace
Finally, you need to make sure that your factory floor is both well lit and well signposted. If you want to lower your rate of workplace accidents, as well as provide the building blocks for improving the output of your workforce, putting plenty of signs in place should be your first step.
People need to be fully aware of what machines they’re using, and able to quickly deduce where they need to go during work hours. If you’ve got a new hire in the building, or you’re often bringing on new members of staff, this is going to be the most crucial point for you.
Your manufacturing business has the chance to be one of the safest in the sector, but only if you regularly intervene to check on how well you’re performing. Never take your workforce for granted – always provide safe conditions.