No matter the size of your organization, the number of plants/locations, or how established your safety program is, safety maturity should be assessed regularly to reduce cost, injuries, and deaths. According to the International Labour Organization, there are more than 2.3 million deaths and approximately 317 million injuries resulting from workplace accidents or diseases every year. In the U.S. alone, 6 million injuries cost companies more than $125 billion per year, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Some of these businesses have established safety programs that are missing the mark, increasing injury rates, costing productivity and affecting the bottom line. Safety programs need to be designed to keep workers safe, boost productivity through reduced downtime, and improving quality and profitability.
Here are the 5 key steps to improving your safety maturity to get the most out of your safety program.
- Evaluate your company’s safety maturity. A map is only useful if you know where you are, and the same idea goes for effective program improvements. Develop a cross-functional team, including operators, engineers, and EHS (environmental, health, and safety) professionals, who can work together to make sure the safety goals are effective. The team should evaluate the company culture (behavioral norms), compliance (established safety and engineering procedures and practices), and capital (use of technology). These three categories are key to a successful safety program. Tools such as the Rockwell Automation Safety Maturity Index are available to evaluate your company in these areas and see where you can improve.
- Develop a strategy by outlining the nature and scope of the safety program. To prevent rework and maximize effectiveness, a long term strategy is important. Some factors to consider are how big your operation is, the roles of people involved in the plan, the results you want, and if there will be any cultural changes in the future such as acquisitions or mergers. Create an inventory of all machinery at all locations and rank those machines by severity of injury and frequency of exposure to hazards. Also as part of this strategy, determine what standards meet your business and regional needs, including electrical, mechanical, ergonomic, safety, energy isolation, and control standards.
- Evaluate machinery for compliance, using the machine database from step two and the relevant standards. Make sure to document opportunities for improvement. A great tool to use is the risk assessment, which has several approaches based on desired reports and documentation. Assessments can vary from very basic to in-depth, team-based assessments. SMC has local safety experts that can help you determine which assessment is right for your needs.
- Develop a safeguard implementation plan. Based on your risk assessment, you will have a quantified risk level for all interactions with your machinery. In addition, determining your level of acceptable risk will allow you to understand and prioritize opportunities for machine and production improvement. An effective way to determine which risk reduction method is right for your needs is to use a tiered approach, such as:
- Design the risk out
- Fixed enclosing guards or distance guarding
- Interlocked guards or other safety devices
- Awareness means, such as horns and lights
- Safe working procedures and safety training
- Personal protective equipment and policies
Develop design specifications for your solution. Determine the hardware and performance level required and the best fit between traditional and contemporary safeguarding strategies.
Instructions for installation of safeguards and safety procedures must be specific and comprehensive, as incorrect installation or use of safety equipment can result in death or injury. As an example, instructions should be as detailed as to include installation position, fonts, formats, and even colors for signage.
- Verify, Validate, and Maintain the Program. Prove the safety system is properly set up and meets all requirements by having electricians and engineers do a full logical and physical analysis and verify that everything is set up correctly. Validate the reliability of the safety system by fault injection in all operating modes. This includes testing all safety components from the sensors to outputs and including procedures. Safety systems should be properly maintained and tested routinely, as well as constantly assessed for opportunities for improvement.
Read more about improving your safety maturity by reading the full whitepaper from Rockwell Automation or let SMC help you assess your safety needs with a Facility Safety Assessment or a discussion detailing your needs and desires.