How to Achieve a Competent Workforce for Safety
"You know, I think that wearing a hard hat in our plant isn't really about protecting our heads from falling junk. I mean, how many times does stuff fall on our heads anyhow? I think we wear hard hats as a visual reminder that we need to be vigilant and work safely. It is a pretty small inconvenience if it keeps us all thinking about safety all the time."
You won't get an argument from most plant folks that safety is really key to successful manufacturing today. Emerson's Chuck Miller chimed in with his thoughts on this in an Automation World magazine article, "How to Achieve a Competent Workforce for Safety (2,079KB PDF)." Chuck stresses that there are (or should be) competency standards for safety personnel in processing facilities. He reports, "Competency across an organization requires a leadership framework with all the right people in place to support it." This thoughtful article discusses how an approach involving training and involvement of several different parts of manufacturing organizations is important to achieving workplace safety. If you work in a processing facility, this article may point to needed changes in your facility that could keep that "Safe Hours Worked" sign at the entrance to your facility continuously adding new higher numbers.
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