Hot Work
Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walks– Hot Work Today I’m talking about Hot Work, as in spark-producing activities such as welding, cutting, and brazing. This is basic fire prevention and protection. (I didn’t intentionally hit all those words from OSHA 1910.252 – sometimes you just get lucky.) In a manufacturing plant, you always have repairs,…
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Confined Spaces
Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walks– Confined Spaces Do you have Confined Spaces in your plant? I’m talking about the OSHA definition of confined spaces, not cramped closets. You thought of silos, didn’t you? (Ace of Clubs.) I mean confined spaces like silos, mixing vessels, reactors, material receivers, packout bins, day bins, pellet traps, cooling…
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Safety Moments
Plant Managers – Friday – Safety Moments Do you start every meeting with a safety moment? Do you ask if anyone has a brief safety topic to share? Offer one yourself? For most meetings, it can be something informal. Just a quick 30-60 second share of something relevant: Morning production meeting or weekly leadership team…
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Project Safety
This post is about 2 aspects of “project safety” – safety during the installation and safety of the finished project. Installation safetyYou’re probably on top of this, but here are a few highlights, whether it’s contractors or your own in-house folks: Equipment/Machine safetyHere I’m talking about the safety of the finished project.You really need your…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Floor Presence
Plant Managers – Friday plant walk – Floor Presence Are your folks surprised when they see you out in the plant? Or does somebody come check on you when they don’t – “Hey. We haven’t seen you all day. You OK?” The biggest step change I saw in a manufacturing plant happened when the leadership…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Fire Extinguishers
Fire extinguishers – quick story first. When we used to shut down for holidays, we’d keep a security guard on site those days. As HSE Manager, I always did one last plant walkthrough before leaving. This time, I saw flames coming out of an extruder throat. Turns out there was a piece of plastic left…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Compressed Air Safety
How is your compressed air safety? If you’re in a manufacturing plant, you use compressed air. It’s used to operate all kinds of equipment, for material conveying (dense phase or dilute), and for cleaning. As you’re walking today, look and LISTEN. Are you hearing air leaks? Especially when your equipment is down and you still…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Let’s take this outside!
So, let’s take a look at the outside of your manufacturing plant. How is your site security? The high today in Burleson is only 96° – practically a cold spell, so it’s a good day for it. Is there a fence around your site? If so, lucky you. Do the gates stay closed most of…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Electrical Safety
“Electrical safety? Are you asking me to go watch my electricians? I don’t think those guys like me.” No. The work they do is a whole other post. This post is about general electrical safety. The stuff we walk by every day and don’t notice. Is “eye blind” a term? Like “nose blind”? WARNING –…
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Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Contractor Safety
Today’s walk-through talks about contractor safety and setting expectations. Do this one early in the day. I’m not saying your contractors knock off early on Fridays, but – do this one early. Do you have contractors working in your plant? Installing equipment, doing upgrades, or repairs? Do they follow the same safety rules as your…
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