Safety first. That’s a motto we hear all the time, and many manufacturers not only preach and believe it, but actually enforce it. Unfortunately, too many others talk about it with empty words.
In fact, a staggering statistic I heard recently says that every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, an employee dies, and 160 others sustain a disabling injury. In most cases, these deaths and injuries were preventable if the appropriate safety measures were taken.
When accidents like this occur, thoughts and prayers obviously go out to the families and loved ones of the victims. However, as big business will tell you, there’s a lot more at stake when these unfortunate events occur. The companies have a brand to protect, and they will tell you that protecting the brand is simultaneously protecting the employees behind that brand.
For examples of where a brand took a big hit, look at BP, Toyota, and Firestone. Those companies recovered, but not before undergoing a massive public-relations effort.
“Our customers are asking for more protection of both their people and their brand,” Chris Brogli, business development manager for safety at Rockwell Automation, told us. “Safety doesn’t have to curtail productivity. In fact, we see that safe companies are actually the most productive.”
It’s clear that “safety first” has to be a top-down mandate, not the other way around. One of the best approaches is to follow the ABCs of safety: accountability, buy-in, and commitment.
Rockwell is very aware of the technologies that should be adopted to maintain safety. The company is also helping to develop standards to maintain a safe work environment.
Part of that process is helping customers do on-site risk assessments. “Some companies think they’re being safe, but because the techniques that they are employing are out of date, they really aren’t safe,” said Brogli.
A simple example of where new technologies help promote safety is in their programmability, something that wasn’t previously available. By having programmable machinery, certain sections of a manufacturing floor can be slowed or shut down for maintenance or cleaning. The impact on revenue is minimal, while the impact on safety is huge.
I learned a lot of these safety issues while visiting the Rockwell Automation Fair, where the company previewed its Safety Automation Builder (SAB) software tool. Due out in February, it will be available for free to customers. SAB is aimed at OEMs building the equipment for their end customers.
Not only do jobs take the best years of our lives, in some cases they take the entire life.
With so many regulations, I am surprised so many are hurt. I imagine those deaths and injuries happen more in unregulated or harsh countries. I wonder how much money would be saved if companies were more safe.
Excellent post, Rich. It's important that studies show a link between safety and productivity, which means that better disciplined and improved processes produce both safer environments and better manufacturing efficiency. With the glut of processing power and networking solutions in the newest generation of controllers, integrated safety should finally become more and more commonplace. At least among the companies that are executing at the highest levels.
I have to agree with Nadine: in some industries, big companies and big PR dollars are masking big safety problems. And some aren't doing a good job at either safety or masking their problems: witness PG&E's San Bruno, California residential natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed several residents (not workers), due primarily to aging, unrepaired infrastructure. A state audit has found that some of the money set aside for the repairs that weren't done was illegally diverted into executive bonuses. Yet PG&E wants residents to pay for the repairs by raising rates.
Yes and no. Some industries have made great progress, especially but not only in the US, but several other old and new industries are still very dangerous for workers.
Today, instead of loosing an arm, workers are more likely to develop slow cancers or other diseases.
I recently listened to an interview with activist in Texas protesting today for worker safety in refineries. The tar-sands oil that is piped to the US from Canada requires a very intensive process that, according to the interview, endangers workers. Here in San Francisco, Chevron is still in the news since the explosion last August. There is lots finger pointing between workers and management. The bottom line is that something wasn't safe in a very populated area.
I'm not sure if new industries have processes that are safer or if the PR professionals are more adept at mitigating any fall out or exposure.
Rich, the emphasis seems to be working, at least in the West. The US has not had a fatal passenger aircraft crash since 2009, I believe. Although there have been some mine accidents in the last few years, they have been newsworthy precisely because they have been rare.
On the manufacturing side, safety is way up. This is why the issues experienced by some large companies, such as Apple, who do lots of manufacturing in China, have been brought to the fore. Interestingly, the employees at Foxconn resisted having their hours cut. One of the issues for safety, and employee health in general, is where they are coming from. Many employees in the developing world are actually in improved conditions at places like a Foxconn factory, even though we would not be satisfied with it. Safety may not be first on their list. That is why, as you point out, the impetus needs to be with upper management, often driven by customers.
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