Our Sites

Safety as a value

The FMA Safety Conference annually recognizes metal fabricators and processors that have great track records of keeping employees safe.

A picture of an unguarded slip roll is worth a thousand words for the safety professionals in attendance at the 2015 FMA Safety Conference in Plymouth, Minn., April 22-23.

While it looks like a simple machine tool for making cylinders from thin-gauge sheet metal, it really was an accident waiting to happen. The pinch point, where the rolls grabbed the material, was completely open to workers’ hands. Also, when the machine was turned off, it took almost a full second for the rolls to come to a complete stop, according to the breakout discussion leader.

How did this safety expert know about the equipment? He was called in after a worker’s smock was pulled into the slip roll, breaking her arm.

As part of the corrective measures taken to make the operation safer, the shop added light curtains to cover the pinch point area, which shut off the machine if fingers or anything else get too close; a foot switch for easier operator control; a motor brake to stop the rolls instantaneously; and a part chute in the rear of the machine to collect the cylinders after they are formed. The improvements didn’t repair the machine operator’s arm, but it may have given her and other operators more peace of mind. The cell enhancements also happened to improve productivity for the operation and provide better ergonomics for workers.

That summed up the spirit of this year’s conference. These attendees view safety not as a cost item, but rather an investment in employees and in improved operations.

In a keynote address, Dave Knoll, vice president and chief financial officer, Anderson Dahlen, told conference attendees that his fabrication company has taken the steps to work with the Minnesota Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (MNSHARP), a consultative program offered through the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Since 2008, when the fabricator qualified to be a part of the program, Anderson Dahlen has had scheduled consultations with state labor officials, not surprise visits from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officials. Now when these consultations occur and safety recommendations are made, Anderson Dahlen is expected to make the appropriate changes in a given amount of time. Also, any time a change in shop floor layout is made, such as adding new equipment, change analysis plans have to be made and shared with MNSHARP representatives.

“It has helped our company to stay on top of safety, and it’s been helpful in boosting the safety culture,” Knoll said.

It’s also been good for Anderson Dahlen. Reportable accidents or injuries have trended down from a high of 38 in 2007 to 13 in 2014; the fabricator has only had two so far this year. The company also has seen its workers’ compensation rates fall by 43 percent.

In another discussion, Karl Laws, safety manager, GH Metal Solutions, Fort Payne, Ala., said metal fabricating companies that are able to make safety a true organizational value, rather than just a priority, are more likely to have long-term success in keeping workers safe. In short, priorities change, but values last.

“I’ve got a job to do,” Laws said. “It’s not to be cop. It’s to stress that safety is a value.”

One such company is Wilson Tool International, a manufacturer of press brake, punch, and stamping tooling in White Bear Lake, Minn. It opened an on-site health care clinic for its local workers in 2008 in response to successive years of 12 percent health care cost increases and because the company ownership felt it was the right step to take.

“The tone is set by the family ownership team. They really want to take care of the people,” said Amanda Kehoe, Wilson Tool’s director of human resources.

The clinic is run in partnership with a local nonprofit HMO. It has varied hours Monday through Friday to accommodate the company’s three manufacturing shifts. It offers full primary care and can accommodate some lab work and fill some prescriptions, mostly generic medicine and non-narcotics.

The commitment to employee good health has expanded into other efforts over the year as well. Wilson Tool now has a full-time well-being program manager, who works with employees to improve dietary habits and engage in exercises, and an on-site physical therapy program, which is staffed 20 hours per week.

“We have been able to hold relatively steady with our claim costs” in the face of rising health care costs of more than 6 percent, Kehoe told conference attendees. She said that the company has lower-than-industry-average emergency room visits, hospitalization rates, and doctor visits.

Focusing on that type of cost savings is key to getting management to appreciate that safety doesn’t have to fall into the category of a cost of doing business, according to Brian Roberts, director, ergonomic services, CNA Risk Control Services. That’s the language that company managers and owners, who speak about profitability and margins, want to hear; phrases such as “lost-time injuries” and “OSHA recordables,” the language of safety professionals, cause company leaders to tune out the conversation.

“We have to speak profit margins, productivity, quality, return on investment, and return on equity. These are the things we have to start speaking about and understanding what they mean,” Roberts said.

Consider wasted movement on a shop floor, Roberts said. A worker may be walking and bending to retrieve a workpiece when instead some sort of material handling device could deliver the same workpiece directly to his or her workstation. If management was to add up all of the wasted time retrieving the workpiece, they would find plenty of hours of lost labor time. That’s not to mention the ergonomic stress the worker endures as the workpiece is picked up hundreds of times each year. A suggestion to improve the work process could contribute to a more productive and safer task.

It’s all about observing the work practice, measuring the details, making changes to improve productivity and safety, and remeasuring to ensure improvement occurred. “Now we have something to talk about,” Roberts said.

The conference also covered updates on OSHA enforcement trends, safety tips from previous winners of the FMA Safety Awards, and guidance to set up a safe robotics cell. On the second day, attendees had the opportunity to visit Anderson Dahlen and Wilson Tool.

If you are interested in the 2016 FMA Safety Conference or applying for next year’s FMA/CNA Safety Awards competition, visit www.fmanet.org or call 888-394-4362.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Dan Davis

Editor-in-Chief

2135 Point Blvd.

Elgin, IL 60123

815-227-8281

Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.