Integrating safety practices with Lean deployments can reduce injuries and drive down workers comp costs by as much as 40 percent.
Many manufacturing companies are starting to experience the consequences of not formally including safety practices into their continuous improvement efforts. As a result, the term "lean safety" is emerging in some larger manufacturing circles.
What does it mean? Let’s take a simple example like the re-design of a work cell. As a machining center is organized to place tools closer to operator and get material into the cell more quickly, we need to consider how those changes will affect operator productivity and safety. Where should the tools be located in relation to the height of the employee? How high should the work desk be? As we feed material into the cell, what repetitive motions are required that could affect the worker’s productivity and safety over the course of a shift?
“We’re trying to look at workstation design tools and integrate them into a workplace organization project,” said Lori Amerman, a safety specialist for IMEC. “We can observe operating practices and make recommended improvements that will eliminate or reduce injury.”
The American Society of Safety Engineers recently analyzed safety data of larger manufacturers who deployed continuous improvement methodologies (lean, quality, six sigma, etc.), but without placing a formal emphasis on safety. The study revealed that these companies experienced a higher rate of injuries and lost time. Although companies may be generally aware of this issue, their focus on eliminating waste and getting product out the door as quickly as possible often leads them to adapt operating procedures that will cause safety problems down the road.
In response, IMEC is developing a formalized approach for lean safety by partnering with a group of physical therapists who perform ergonomics services for manufacturers. The specialists at NovaCare Rehabilitation understand what causes physical trauma to the body. They can analyze grasp pressure, finger pressure and repetitive motion. Combined with IMEC’s ability to “engineer-out” hazards, we can offer a complete solution.
Moving forward, the plan is to work with NovaCare on developing a 5S+1 program, a lean foundation tool. The “plus-one” emphasizes safety, with formalized workplace design tools incorporated into each project. Once the 5S+1 lean safety program is developed, we can easily adapt safety into other lean solutions (i.e. Cellular/Flow, TPM, etc.). NovaCare specialists and I will be developing and piloting the new program. Once we have a formal pilot under our belts, we will roll the program out to more Illinois manufacturers.
Our team is always ready to discuss a personalized continuous improvement and safety plan for your company. Give one of us a call today and we’ll get started.
