July 20, 2011

UMA MEMBER COMPANIES IN THE NEWS:

BOEING AND AIRBUS WIN MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR ORDER FROM AMERICAN AIRLINES

Quick Manufacturing News
Parent company claims order is the largest in aviation history. Click to continue

SETPOINT WINS NEW CONTRACT

UB Daily
Setpoint Systems (http://www.setpointusa.com), a leader in design and manufacture of custom lean automation solutions and manufacturing equipment announced a new contract with Tesla Motors of Palo Alto, California.
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FEATURE: OUTSOURCING MAINTENANCE: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS?

Today in Manufacturing
New studies show that food manufacturers are some of the most old-fashioned, but in a time of increasing demand, some new eyes might be a great help ... continue

CHINA: U.S. NEEDS TO PROTECT OUR INVESTMENTS

Today in Manufacturing
China, the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury debt, appealed to Washington on Wednesday to take steps to boost confidence in the dollar and protect its investors ... continue

FEATURE: SUCCESSFUL OFFSHORE ENGINEERING COLLABORATION

Today in Manufacturing
To get the most out of offshore design resources, you must teach your organization how to successfully communicate and collaborate ... continue

JAPAN'S CRIPPLED NUCLEAR PLANT REACHES STABILITY

Today in Manufacturing
The crippled reactors at Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear power plant are on track for a cold shutdown within six months, the government and plant operator said ... continue

NAM - NLRB UPDATE

Jay Timmons
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concludes two days of hearings on proposed union election rules today. These rules—the so-called “quick snap election” proposal—could give employers as few as 10 days to communicate with their employees between the time a union files for an election and the election itself.

I have heard from manufacturers across the country about these proposed rules and the NLRB’s other actions, such as its complaint against Boeing. Manufacturers are rightly concerned about these threats to job creation and economic growth.

To ensure that the NLRB hears the views of manufacturers during the rulemaking process, the NAM provided testimony at the hearing on Monday. Peter Kirsanow, a labor lawyer and former member of the NLRB, told Board members about the harmful consequences of its proposed rules.

His bottom line: “[T]he rules are profoundly harmful to employees, who will be forced to make uninformed decisions regarding one of the most important aspects of their lives; and they will be profoundly harmful to employers, who will be effectively removed from, and have no input into the determination to unionize their workplaces.”

I hope you will review his full testimony, which you can find here:
http://www.nam.org/~/media/8947F6FB045B4E4B920177E5D3658B04/Statement_of_Peter_Kirsanow_on_behalf_of_the_NAM_before_the_NLRB.pdf.
The NAM remains committed to defending the rights of manufacturers and their employees. Our advocacy helped defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, and now manufacturers must again work together to prevent the NLRB from achieving the goals of that misguided legislation through regulation and other agency action.

Daily Safety Messages

by Greg Summerhays
Safety training is essential to help train employees to think and behave safely on the job. In the time between safety training sessions a lot can be forgotten. One way to keep employees focused on safety is with simple, short daily safety messages.

WHY USE DAILY SAFETY MESSAGES?

Greg Summerhays - WCF
Some employees come to a new job with more safety or survival sense than other employees. Regardless of past work experiences, a person coming into a new job needs to be taught your safe way of doing things. Equally important is that all employees need to be reminded from time to time, the safe way of doing things. The long term objective of safety training is to help employees learn and implement safety on the job. Safety meetings and safety training can help ingrain the safety behavior needed for the job. Adding daily safety messages to your safety training can help bridge the time between in-depth training meetings and help employees retain what they’ve learned.

Benefits of Daily Safety Messages
1. Reinforce the safe behavior that is needed to do the job safely.
2. Supplement safety training and safety meeting information, helping to “drive safe behavior home.”
3. Provide an opportunity for continuous safety review.
4. Create greater safety awareness through specific focused safety reminders.
5. Provide focus on loss prevention areas of concern.
6. Allow opportunities to give information and follow-up on new safety rules and regulations.

Approaches to Daily Safety Messages Content
You might ask, “What can I possibly talk about each day? My employees will get bored. Do I have time to even try to come up with a new topic every day?” Whatever the concern, there are various approaches to providing daily safety messages. These include:
• The Holistic Approach: The holistic approach teaches safety in all areas, not just the job task. In this approach, anything on safety, safe behavior, or a safe way of doing things can be the daily safety message. For example, a supervisor may one day remind the crewmembers to drive home safely. Another time a supervisor may say “You should control your anger at all times.”
• The Task-Oriented Approach: This approach helps the workers to concentrate on the job activity. This approach is widely used and has the merit of helping the employee to follow procedures exactly. This approach is good for complex processes and often is found in the way of procedure sheets that are checked off as the process is carried out.
• The Topic Approach: Yet another approach is to concentrate on a specific message over a period of days. This allows the training to give brief safety messages on a topic that otherwise would tie workers up away from production time. Instead of giving a detailed message that may be forgotten in a few days, a brief daily safety message can help in retention of the training.

Coming up with a List of Daily Safety Messages
Coming up with a list does not have to be difficult. Resources are found all around you. Some of these resources include:
1. Use of the Accident Loss Report – find out what kinds of accidents are occurring, how they are occurring, what body parts are being injured, what preventative measures can be taken, etc. Then prepare a list of safety messages that can be given to help prevent the injuries that you have been experiencing.
2. Use of Prior Safety Bulletins – what topics have helped create new procedures,safety messages, and bulletins? Make a list of these topics.
3. Use of Worker Experience – invite the workers who are intimately experienced with their tasks and work environment to come up with lists of safety items, safety concerns and necessary discussion topics. Review these items and prepare a list.
4. Use of Supervisor Experience – invite supervisors to come up with their lists of safety favorites, safety concerns and “should do’s.” Develop a master list for all to use.
5. Use of Procedures - Review procedures, list where errors have occurred, and steps to improve upon. These topics can go a long way to better production, and better safety.

Length of Time for Daily Safety Messages
The length of time to allot for the presentation of daily safety messages varies according to budget allowances, time limitations, goals of the safety program, etc. A daily safety message may be as brief as a one line safety reminder, or last a couple of minutes. Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind you are trying to reinforce safe behavior and keep safety in the minds of employees.

When to have Daily Safety Messages
A good time to have safety messages is at the beginning of each shift. Whether you give the safety message at the beginning of the shift day or at some other time, it is important to give the safety message while the workers are away from their regular tasks. Give them an opportunity just to think about safety.

Ways to Present Daily Safety Messages
Ways to give the daily safety message can be as varied as your creativity. Talking to the crewmembers in person works well; however, you may not be able to get everyone together for a presentation. Some other methods for giving a daily safety message include:
1. E-mail a safety message daily to supervisors to pass onto their crews.
2. Give a list of safety messages to supervisors and let them give a message each day.
3. Post safety meeting messages by time clocks.
4. Have dispatchers give a daily safety message to each driver.
5. Attach a safety message to drivers’ trip folders.
6. Present the safety message over the public address system.
7. Use a calendar with a different safety message posted per day.
8. Hand out a list of safety messages that employees can sign off on as they read.

A Sample Daily Safety Message List
This sample list is presented as an example. The message may also be developed into a longer message for a daily safety session.
•Keep exits clear.
•Clean up grease, spills, slick spots quickly.
•Watch out for sharp corners and edges.
•Never carry anyone on the forklift forks.
•Look around your equipment before your start-up.
•Don’t twist your back while lifting.
•Hang your coat on a hook, not the fire extinguishers.
•Do you know where the fire extinguishers are located?
•Pay attention to what you are doing.
•Don’t’ pass under or reach under a raised load.
•Do you know the hazards of the chemical product you are using?
•There’s no limit to what you can lose if you are unsafe.
•Watch out for your coworkers.

Whether brief or long, daily safety messages have helped companies change behavior and reinforce safe practices. Try it.

Greg Summerhays is Director of Public Relations and Community Outreach at Workers Compensation Fund. WCF offers ongoing safety training and UMA members are eligible for a 5% premium discount through a partnership with WCF. Visit www.wcfgroup.com for more information.