Improving manufacturing safety

For the most part, today’s manufacturing workplace is the safest it has ever been.

That said, a re-examination of how things are done to maintain productivity and improve worker safety is in order. Every year, thousands of employees get hurt on the job and many of those injuries could have been prevented. Some of these cases were the result of employees not following safety procedures or rules that were already in place; while others were the result of equipment failure. And then there were injuries that were far more confounding: those were the on-the-job injuries attributed to the procedure itself, where the risk of injury was baked into the actual operation.

Of course there will be inherent risks in all forms of manufacturing — but what if you could improve a procedure that not only increased worker safety, but radically improved productivity as well? It sounds crazy, but it is being done every day. There are several reports and studies that support the premise that you can improve worker safety and increase productivity through smarter process design. But how is that done?

Hundreds of manufacturers have done just that by using an automatic back spotfacing tool called the Autofacer®, which not only eliminates costly secondary operations, but allows manufacturers to automate the back spotfacing process without having to stop and do a tool swap-out. Cutting out that unnecessary step eliminates the need for operator intervention. In other words, the machinist no longer has to climb inside a machine to change out a tool and be exposed to sharp chips or the danger of falling on a slippery machine table. Companies who use the Autofacer® also increase part profitability, in turn leading to significant savings in machine time and labor.

Are there processes that you can improve upon? I urge you to take a new look at your processes — you may see areas you can streamline and improve to help create a safer workplace.

The Average cost of an employee injury is $35,000 cited by OSHA & Fit2Work

Learn more about the Steiner Technologies Autofacer® by downloading our brochure!

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