8/12/2010
By Megan Raines, CSP, Corporate Safety Manager
Comau is known for many things: Innovation, creativity, global teamwork, technical expertise, and of course, our products. Today, Comau is increasingly becoming known as a leader in health and safety throughout our industry.
For example, we were recently presented a Construction Management Achievement Award from Ford for working more than 10,000 construction hours in 2009 without a recordable incident. We also worked well over 60,000 hours at one of our major automotive customer’s facility without any injuries to Comau employees or our subcontractors. Considering the large scope of the project, this is truly an accomplishment to be proud of.
In addition, I am pleased to announce that we will soon be receiving recognition from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). The recognition stems from visits conducted per our request by consultants from MIOSHA’s Consultation Education and Training (CET) Division. On August 24, we will be presented with five Silver Safety Awards by MIOSHA Director Doug Kalinowski. CET awards are based on excellent safety and health performance. The CET Silver Award recognizes an outstanding safety record of 50,000 - 1,500,000 continuous hours worked without days away from work based on the employer’s size and type of business.
The awards will be presented at the Comau Novi campus and Comau Southfield campus.
Even more exciting is the fact that these awards are a MIOSHA record – never before has MIOSHA presented one company with five awards at the same time.
Stay tuned for details on the award presentations and an official press release. Check the MIOSHA website or contact us for more information. 1/25/2010
Author: Megan Raines, CSP, Corporate Safety Manager
In the manufacturing business, “lean” is a frequent buzzword. Lean principles are used to improve productivity, reduce cost, improve quality, organize work areas, and standardize processes. But how often do you hear of safety improvements in the list of business priorities that can be touched by lean? As lean concepts continue to become more and more engrained in corporate culture, hopefully you will hear “safety” used in conjunction with lean on a more frequent basis. After all, processes cannot be considered lean without also being safe.
So how can safety be improved by implementing lean? Actually, the two can work hand-in-hand. Recent initiatives at Comau provide excellent examples of how lean initiatives can also improve safety. Comau has embraced a lean manufacturing philosophy which emphasizes continuous improvement. While we are known for our excellent safety record, we also strive toward continuous improvement in our safety performance as well. I have been working with the teams who are implementing our lean manufacturing initiatives to create synergies between lean and safe. For example:
· Lean “5S” initiatives: 5S implementation results in improved cleanliness and housekeeping, which can reduce clutter and thereby reduce the potential for several types of injuries. Also, 5S emphasizes standard processes; safety requirements can be integrated into these processes. In fact, 5S and safety are so closely linked that sometimes safety is considered a 6th “S”. (And yes, I can sometimes be seen with a broom or dustrag helping the lean teams “shine” the areas!)
· Improved process flow: Improving process flow normally results in less process steps and less travel distance. These changes can improve ergonomics and result in less strain on the body.
· Workplace organization: Not only does this result in better housekeeping (see above), but by placing frequently used items within easy reach it can also improve ergonomics and result in less strain on the body.
· “Kaizen” workshops: These workshops are designed to identify forms of waste and address them to streamline processes. In addition to the benefits listed above, they are also an excellent opportunity to identify any tools or equipment which will help to make the workplace safer.
Comau is becoming more widely known for our integration of lean and safety. In fact, I am working on an article about this integration (and how to get employees to want to participate in safety improvements), and I hope it’ll be featured in a professional publication soon.
11/9/2009
Author: Megan Raines CSP, Corporate Safety Manager
Have you ever done something unsafe and rationalized it because it would be a quick task? For example, driving a few blocks without a seatbelt, or using a power tool at home without safety glasses for a quick touchup on a project?
Last week, I attended the National Robot Safety Conference, put on by the Robotics Industries Association. One very interesting portion of the conference was a presentation given by a Federal OSHA enforcement officer. He gave several recent examples where people were seriously injured by robots in various industries, which could have been easily avoided using the many technologies available to safeguard robot cells.
It’s only human nature to try to “go inside the cell for just a second to make a quick adjustment”. Just like the examples I mentioned in the beginning, most people think it’s ok to do something in an unsafe manner if it will be a quick task, and believe that only other people get hurt. Also, many workers think they are doing their company a favor by trying to quickly fix an issue without following the safety rules, because they think it will save time.
It’s important for robot manufacturers and integrators to recognize this human tendency, and design layouts and guarding to ensure these incidents don’t happen. Often, injuries from robots occur because of inadequate guarding which allows people to go inside the robot cell during automatic robot motion.
At Comau, we take safety very seriously and use a team approach to assess each system we design and build. The goal of our risk assessment process is to identify any possible hazards, and incorporate effective controls to ensure that the risks are mitigated. In other words, we try to anticipate the tasks the operator, maintenance personnel, and others will need to do (both inside and outside the cell), and we design our systems so they can perform these tasks in a easy, yet safe manner. If we reduce the amount of times people will need to enter the cell, make it easy to enter safely, and guard against unsafe entry, the chance of an injury is greatly reduced or eliminated in some cases. If all companies took these steps, serious injuries from robots could be a thing of the past. It’s all a part of our company philosophy focused on the safety of our employees and customers.
How do you or your company improve safety?
9/8/2009
Author: Megan Raines CSP, Corporate Safety Manager
Recently, I attended a class through MIOSHA entitled “Blueprint for a Safety and Health Management System”. The attendees were mostly safety personnel from companies across Michigan, and the companies were from a variety of industries including automotive, misc. manufacturing, food/beverages, government employees, etc.
I attended the class to learn more about developing a comprehensive safety and health management system, in preparation for our goal of being one of only a small percentage of companies who will be certified in the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 standard by year-end 2010. This class was also the last one I needed to obtain MIOSHA Level 1 Certification in General Industry (yay!).
One exercise during the class involved each attendee rating their own organization on the factors that make up a strong safety management system. (When I scored Comau, I tried to be as critical as possible but we still ended up with a very good score.) What really struck me, though, is that many of the attendees rated their companies poorly on the support they receive from upper leadership. A safety program cannot be very successful without this leadership commitment, and it was evident why some of these companies were struggling with rising injury rates and other problems.
That is one thing I appreciate about Comau – the leadership at all levels of the company are very supportive of the safety program, and they make it clear that employee health and safety is a top priority. This helps us keep our injury rates significantly below the industry average, which makes a better working environment for our employees. However, our customers also benefit because this safety commitment translates to our employees working safer when they are at customer sites as well. Additionally, all of our employees are aware of the importance of health and safety in all aspects of the business, and this ensures that appropriate safeguards are built into the design of our products. Therefore, our leadership commitment to health and safety is the foundation that keeps us as an industry leader in our safety performance and design – a win/win situation for both our employees and customers!
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