Ensuring job safety is the most crucial aspect in the current time when technology enters every element of our life. The challenge of maintaining safety standards is quite hard, as a Quality Manager at Apex Manufacturing personally knows. We just recently installed safety audit software that changed our attitude to workplace safety and helped us establish better surroundings for our staff. This is a story of our experience in implementing a safety audit application into our safety control mechanism and the tremendous impacts it had on our company.
Need for Change
We had some disturbing manufacturing floor safety incidents a few months ago. We found that our manual audit procedures did not have the tools to identify hazards and ensure compliance, despite having safety procedures in place. Each safety audit was a laborious task with hand data entry and paper checklists that often led to errors and missed items. We wanted a system that would make our safety audits easier, hence more efficient and effective.
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The learning had come the hard way through an almost near miss for significant injury. This turned out to be a wake-up call that illustrated a more proactive attitude to control the safety requirement. Maybe this procedure was somewhat hostile instead of just time-wasting. Clearly, as we sat around the conference table to chart our next course of action, our methodology for conducting safety audits would have to change if we wanted to stay true to our promise to our staff members.
Seeking Solutions
This inspired me to come up with a better approach. I gathered my staff, and we began to look at the various safety audit programs. Our search was for an app that has real-time data analytics and reporting features in addition to digitizing our checklists. While each of the several choices we looked at had special qualities, we finally settled on an app with easy-to-use interfaces, customized checklists, and rapid report-generating capability.
The selection process was very detailed. We developed a criteria checklist for minimum necessities such as mobile accessibility, ease of use, integration into our current systems and the ability to produce compliance reports. We explored many options and selected one that best met our long-term safety requirements. Knowing we had anticipated the potential impact of this new technology on our safety audits, there was much excitement in the air.
Implementation Plan
Implementation of the safety audit app was group effort. While starting the process, I made sure my employees did not feel threatened while using the app; I even held training courses for them. The major users—the manufacturing staff—were eager to interact with this new technology. I urged them to give comments all through the process since their opinions were rather helpful for good adoption.
I made sure that we emphasized the requirement of thoroughness in our audits as we transitioned into the app. "It's about a safer work environment, not about tick-boxing," I reminded the employees. We could quite easily follow safety inspections and record hazards and then see whether compliance is immediate. The user-friendly design made it easy for the employee to navigate through it instead of fumbling over paper-based documentation.
I kept the employees informed with open communication and managed to overcome their fears on the day of the final rollout about the new system. The excited ones were keen on a non-complex approach, while others could not bring themselves to place reliance upon technology. "Change is scary," I told them, "but we are in this together as we look to achieve that better, safer workplace."
Conducting Safety Audits
It changed everything after we ran the first safety audit through the app. Equipped with tablets and the safety audit tool, my staff glided down the manufacturing line. I could right away document results straight forward; upload pictures along with follow-up tasks assigned on the app straight away. Long gone were missing documentation and hand-entered data. There's evident efficiency, and because my staff used the system, confidence grew.
We detected numerous potential hazards in our audit that would have been automatically overlooked in previous audits. For example, we discovered that some of the available safety tools were not adequately maintained. The tools offered by the software enabled us to track these findings and classify speedy fixes. Our flexibility in communicating and monitoring on-the-spot these issues in real time was highly responsive.
Such was the case when an incident in which a worker documented an unlocked safety guard on one of the machines happened. It is such incidents that might have taken days in the past to deal with, but now, since we had the app, we logged the problem quickly and assigned a technician to deal with it, following up on the status of resolution. This time-honored procedure further indicated how this tool will serve in the development of the workplace as safer.
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Involving the Employees
I kept making an effort to converse with the production team during the audit. I asked them about their processes, the challenges they were facing, and what they would change if hypothetically possible. Their perceptions are priceless; they were as aware of daily activities as the obstacles they faced. I listened carefully and wrote down everything they said. People feel that their voice is heard, thereby developing a culture of trust and openness.
One manufacturing worker said, "If we had better equipment, we could meet our quality standards more consistently," and brought to my attention her concern about the old machinery that was being used, which broke down all too often. Her comments really spoke to me because they underscored how our tools impact the quality of our output. This input raised urgent safety issues but also provided a forum for talking about funding new equipment meant to eventually increase productivity and safety.
Encouraging staff members to raise concerns helped both in identifying hazards and also in creating a responsible culture. Employees started caring for their own safety as well as that of others. The software transformed into a forum for continuing practice discussion on safety as well as audits.
Data Analysis
We started analyzing the data gathered by the app after our first round of audits. The safety audit software gave us a detailed report showing trends and recurring issues. It has been very helpful in identifying areas where changes to safety procedures or additional training were needed. It was clear that many departments were more likely to violate safety, so we designed more targeted training sessions based on their individual needs.
The statistics of the program were able to reveal a system of benchmarks with which we could track our development over time. As expected, incident rates came down and general safety compliance went up as the obvious result of these efforts. Fulfilling, too, was the fact that it was visible to see results of our effort showing in the concrete. There was, for example, an observable slide in the cases of slip-and-fall, something that could be traced back to effective floor cleaning techniques and added safety instruction.
This fact-based approach did not only direct our safety plans but also enabled us to make decisions based on hard facts rather than anecdotal evidence. We knew what we had to do deliberately; we were no more wondering what we may be lacking in our safety.
Fostering a Safety Culture
Apart from streamlining our auditing procedure, the safety audit tool enabled us to build a safety culture inside our company. Workers started to feel more qualified to actively engage in the audit process and document hazards. The app gave people a forum to express their worries and help us with our safety projects directly.
In support of this type of culture, we even initiated recognition programs for those staff members who would often interact with the app, promoting improved safety. This not only gave more strength to good behavior but was also intended to exhibit our will toward the establishment of a secured workplace when we honor such efforts.
We realized that the culture is in a phase of transition, as employees started regarding safety not only as something that should be followed but more as something that had simply become an integral part of their place of work. They gained a feeling of responsibility and ownership for ensuring their and their fellow worker's safety. They even gained satisfaction while identifying any kind of potential dangers.
Ongoing Improvement
The development of the safety audit process on our part included that the safety audit software was the starting point. We are committed always to improving; we continuously review our safety procedures and, through the app, we adjust to new conditions. The app allows us to keep being flexible, updating the safety precautions in relation to industry rules or new issues.
We will be looking at other features applications may have in the near future with regard to risk assessments and even the integration of safety training modules. These will make us proactive against potential hazards and further enforce our work on safety management. The safety audit application at Apex Manufacturing really made a change in the direction we had been heading. We leaned on technology and dealt with the whole safety audit process much more efficiently. It prepared employees and made way for the establishment of a safety culture. The software reduces complexity in our work processes and creates a secure working environment for our employees.
About Axonator Inc:
At Axonator, our vision is simple yet powerful: to enable the world on mobile. We envision a future where every aspect of business and society is seamlessly connected through mobile devices. Our mission is to empower businesses worldwide to leverage the full potential of mobile technology, transforming the way they operate, communicate, and collaborate.
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Axonator Inc. (The World On Mobile)
Austin, TX, USA
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Email: support@axonator.com
Website: https://axonator.com/
