Struggling to balance safety and production efficiency at your plant?
Striking the right balance between safety and production efficiency is a tightrope walk but achievable with the right strategies. Consider these steps:
- Streamline workflows with safety in mind, ensuring protocols are efficient without compromising on safety standards.
- Invest in training that emphasizes both productivity and safe practices, so employees understand how to integrate the two seamlessly.
- Regularly review and adjust procedures, using employee feedback and incident reports to refine both safety measures and production processes.
What methods have you found effective in balancing these critical aspects of plant management?
Struggling to balance safety and production efficiency at your plant?
Striking the right balance between safety and production efficiency is a tightrope walk but achievable with the right strategies. Consider these steps:
- Streamline workflows with safety in mind, ensuring protocols are efficient without compromising on safety standards.
- Invest in training that emphasizes both productivity and safe practices, so employees understand how to integrate the two seamlessly.
- Regularly review and adjust procedures, using employee feedback and incident reports to refine both safety measures and production processes.
What methods have you found effective in balancing these critical aspects of plant management?
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In my experience, we, EHS professionals, need to strike just the right balance between Health & Safety and production needs. It is not impossible and with the right collaboration that balance can be a win-win for both teams. Throughout my career I have made it a point to work with production, to help them understand the benefits of a safe/productive workforce. Convincing production that a safe and healthy workforce benefits their end game. If an employee gets hurt, there may be time away, workers comp costs and backfilling for the injured employee. I mentioned collaboration, in my mind you have to develop a partnership with production, showing them, you (EHS), are there to help and not hinder their progress. It can be done.
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In more than 17 years’ experience in energy, manufacturing, and rail professions as a QA & EHSManager, I have managed and overseen implementation of SHEQ and ISO compliance, audits in such hazardous operations as in gas processing plants and power stations. I always incorporate safety measures while at the same time optimizing production whether it is installing 4G/ 5G networks for SGT Solutions etc. I have my primary interests in risk analysis, and the determination of accident causes in addition to enhancing safety and efficiency. Using the stakeholder management and ‘Zero Harm culture’ approach, I balance safety and productivity while considering them to be mutually exclusive.
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So much of this depends on your leader. If you have one that includes 'keeping the truck on the road and not in the ditch' as part of their vision, it can be very easy to steer them in the right direction. Everyone wants to avoid the delays an investigation will cost. As EHS professionals, we're the eyes/ears for those leaders, which is why I believe it's important to 'get out of the chair' and look to see what's going on and be very vocal. If they choose to listen, then hoorah!
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Striking this "balance" starts at the very top of an organisation. Too many companies, large & small, pick & choose when H&S is a key pillar for them. It either is a key pillar of your organisation or it isn't, simple. When organisations put profits before people, they get greedy & look for too many 'efficiencies' and this is where accidents happen. Pushing employees to the limit to hit targets & squeeze margins can lead to stress, sickness and work absences. This leaves the remaining team members to increase their own output, morale then plummets and further absences inevitably occur. This ultimately leads to corners getting cut and - accidents. A culture whereby staff safety is genuine can see efficiencies made and staff kept safe.
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It is said Safety overrides al production target. If you sincerely follow safety, you will reduce accidents/incidents/ lost time and medical treatment cost. It will improve your moral and your indirect cost will be almost nil. There will be more retentions of experience and old employee's duty safety policy being implemented.
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Well said, John. Good leaders know that caring for the people who make the product and deliver the service is the first step toward achieving their business goals.
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No struggle Safety is King and Quality should be a given. If you have to compromise then the battle is lost. With Safety and Quality you need to set the standard and don't waver from it or you will lose your credibility with both the hourly and upper management.
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In my experience it all depends on the approach. Ensuring production staff understand the importance of safety and how it benefits them always helps. It’s continuous improvement which requires their involvement. When production feels apart of change, they will own it. A lot of EHS professionals expect 100% compliance and resort to discipline immediately, rather than working with and understanding why the unsafe acts are occurring. Having a great report with team members, communicating and educating is key. Help me, help you. Let’s figure it out together. 90% of team members want to do the right thing. Focus on understanding why you have the 10% of team members that give the pushback.
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The question suggests that these two are a binary choice, they are not. Safe and efficient systems are possible. The barriers most challenging to overcome are of cost. Equipment upgrades and retrofits with a large safety component and a minor reliability and efficiency improvement often end up and stay at the bottom of the list. Employees engage in and employers overlook unsafe acts because both expect nothing bad to happen. EHS is typically no one's child and faces the extraordinary burden of building bridges with everyone. As others have said, safe and efficient production environments are possible with everyone's engagement.
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create safety procedure for all task in production & trained all employee to ensure that safety is main priority for human life and all employee is doing save and follow procedure other wise punishment procedure to be taken against the unfollowed employee
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