Manufacturing Safety

Manufacturing Safety

 

The road to safety compliance is a long one and full of pitfalls.  The manufacturing industry is one of several that falls under a large number of specific rules that are enforced to prevent injury, death and exposure to toxic substances. Failure to comply with these standards can result in costly fines or even business closure. Navigating the staggering number of regulations can be overwhelming at times and often leaves companies at a loss for how to proceed.  Hettrick, Cyr and associates has been working with manufacturing clients for decades to help them create a roadmap to compliance - and we stick with them every step of the way. With that said, we know not every solution is required by every client, and have developed a suit of products that can meet the needs of each individual location.

Some of our most popular products include:

     -Full Site Regulatory Compliance Audits (Mock OSHA Audit)

Practicing for a regulatory audit can be a fantastic way to ensure your team knows what to do when the time comes.  HCA safety professionals will perfom a simulated regulatory audit by going through each step of OSHA's inspection process - From the opening conference, right through to recieving citations complete with expected fines.  We know the process inside and out and can help your management team be ready for when a compliance officer comes knocking.

     -Safety Program Gap Analysis

Many companies have a good handle on their safety program from plant to paperwork, but need help with the "nitty gritty".  We will comb over your written programs, review your OSHA logs, loss runs, and training documentation, and provided to you a report that identifies the deficiencies in your programs and reccomendations on how to best abate the issue.

     -Safety Training (For required, and proactice programs)

There are a variety of programs that require general and specific training for compliance.  Whether you want someone to take the burden off of you, or you just want an expert on the subject matter, HCA can develop and provide compliant training programs that will satisfy your needs.  Have a program that is not required by OSHA?  The best way to ensure employees understand your stance on safety, and the policies and procedures you put in place is to provide training that is developed and conducted in a manner consistent with their work.  This might come in the form of a Powerpoint presentation in a classroom, or a live demonstration on your shop floor.  We are comfortable and experienced in any scenario.

     -Specific Safety Program Development  

Often times during a gap analysis or a mock regulatory audit, we will discover that a company may be doing things to ensure employee safety, but that they do not have a written program to support the actions they are taking.  It is extremely important, especially during an audit, to be able to provide documentation that details what you are doing as a company to prevent injury and provide your employees with a safe working environment.  We will review all of your current policies and operating procedures and develop a safety program that is both fully OSHA compliant, and tailored to your specific shop.

 

These tend to be the services we provide when first working with a client.  Once we've established what the needs are, we will work with the company to create a road map to achieving compliance.  In that vein, other services we provide include but are not limited to:

     -Lockout / Tagout Procedures

We will work with your facilities or maintenance department to get you up to speed on your Lockout/Tagout compliance.  This typically includes developing Lo/To procedures for each piece of equipment you have at the facility, reviewing each procedure with those that will be conducting lockout/tagout on the machine, setting up documents for conducting the annual verification of procedures, as well as the documents to conduct periodic inspections on the employees doing the work.  We will also hold a training sessions with the employees to ensure that they understand the hazards, and have the knowedge to safely conduct Lo/To work.

     -PPE Hazard Assessments

Under CFR 1910.132 OSHA requires "An assessment of the workplace to determine if hazards are present...which necessitate the use of personal protective equipment".  A written certification for each job is required to satisfy the requirements of this standard.  We will work with your team to identify each of the jobs at your facility, then record the specific hazards each task brings to the employee.  Lastly, we will create a PPE Hazard Assessment for each of these jobs and provide them to you with recommendations for specific PPE as required.  We can also conduct training with the employees per the OSHA standard, or leave that part up to you.

     -Industrial Hygeine Testing

We have the ability to conduct Industrial Hygeine testing for a variety of situations, most commonly noise or indoor air quality.  We have found that most people underestimate how loud their facility is, especially when working in close proximity to machines.  Likeways, operations like welding, paint booths, and chemical processes can produce atmoshpheres that are actually hazardous to employees health.  You have a responsibility under OSHA to protect your employees from the seen and the unseen hazards.  IH testing is a great way to uncover things that may be hurting your employees without you (or them!) even knowing it.

     -Machine Guarding Assessments

With the staggering amount of machinery that is at any given location, it is not uncommon for serious machine guarding issues or practices to go comepletely unnoticed.  When cared for, many machines can last for decades in the workplace.  This is great for your bottom line, but the reality is that many of these machine were not designed with employee safety in mind.  Fortunately, machine guarding has come a long way and most machines are capable of being fully retro-fitted with proper guarding.  We will come to your facility, and conduct an assessment of each piece of machinery you have, to ensure that all possible points of injury have been identified.  Many times we can provied you with information of the specific guard that will eliminate the hazard!

     -Managment Coaching and Culture Change

Sometimes the biggest roadblock to achieving safety excellence can be managment itself.  That is not a statement to be taken lightly, and we do not mean that we find managment activly working towards a more dangerous workplace.  Rather, we often find that company culture sometimes can get in the way of forward safety progress.  Things like sending mixed messages, favoritism, production goals, disciplinary policy (or lack of) and even incentive programs can often times undermine the overall goal of not just compliance, but true safety culture.  Allow us to identify and provide recommendations on your current safety culture, coach new managers on their employee interactions and help them to identify hazardous situations before they produce injuries.

 

It does not stop there!  There are many more services we provide and we would love to talk to you about them.  Send us an email or call us as (888) 805-0300 for questions about services or to recieve a quote!



Hettrick Cyr & Associates Corporate Offices



59 Sycamore Street Glastonbury, CT 06033
Tel: (860) 652-9997
Toll Free: (888) 805-0300
Fax: (860) 657-8193