Summer is for good times, outside activities, and long evenings. With the warmth, sun, and holidays, staying focused on work is difficult and incident risk increases. As employees go on vacation and contractors or temporary workers are hired, there is more potential for incident occurrences. As the season comes to an end and associates come back to work, safety rules are often forgotten over break which leads to accidents.
Monday Absence Awareness
As employees go on vacation, the workforce can diminish leading other associates to counterbalance the lack of production by working overtime or taking on new tasks. In situations like this, we must stay cautious and prevent any overexertion incidents and risks.
- Anticipate employee vacations in advance.
- Increase flexibility: Associates may need to take on new tasks so training should take place before it is needed.
- Train associates while using Job Safety Analysis (JSA) as a support. This is a good opportunity to review all the risks and safety rules of a workplace.
Tuesday Temporary Workers
To increase our workforce during summer time, temporary workers are often added to the team. This worker population is more at risk because:
- They are new to the company
- They are used to different safety cultures
- We want them to work on their own as soon as possible
Because of this, it is important to be more attentive with this kind of associate:
- Ensure strong safety training. Use initial training (global hazard, Safety Attire Policy fire/emergency procedure) and specific safety training (JSA) to ensure the associate is aware of hazards of the plant, workshop, and tasks. Quick adoption of all safety practices is ideal.
- Ensure new associates know why and how to use collective protections.
- Ensure new associates know how to control emergency stop before working.
- Ensure new associates receive necessary protection. Provide all mandatory PPE of the workplace, not only the standard plant ones.
- Consider having the new associate shadow an experienced worker in their area. You can also designate a mentor/mentee relationship for a period of time.
Wednesday Staying Focused
Staying focused during the summertime can prove to be difficult as others go on vacation or take long breaks. To prevent an increase of injuries, associates need to intentionally focus on safety while on the clock.
Tools like TAKE 2, can help turn colleagues’ concentration to safety at the beginning of their shifts. A daily or weekly safety communication can keep associates focused on important safety rules. Use real situations to help keep things relatable for employees (reported safety opportunities, recent workplace incidents, etc.). Look out for one another throughout the day.
Thursday Keeping the Workplace Clean and Organized
During our daily tasks, we accumulate things that are important at the time but quickly become unnecessary. Summertime is a great time to clean and tidy up your workplace!
Discuss the most important cleaning and maintenance tasks that need to be done in your team's work area to keep people safe. Consider using the 5S methodology to help you clean and organize:
Friday Safety Mindset
Safety is important at work and during vacation. If you are victim of an injury while on vacation, then your life, work, and team are all impacted.
Remember to apply EnPro Safety Tips: If you do something new, be sure to review. Take a rest, then you drive your best. Take a stand, ask for a hand…
A vacation is a success when it is followed by a safe return back to work. To reach this success, our safety mindset must be our top priority when working is resumed. Refresh safety lessons and safe habits. Start your first day at work with a safety talk that reestablishes safety as the top priority. Restart work by talking about safety, reducing distractions, and reducing injury risks.
To prevent injury potential, we must stay aware of safety at all times, manage our workshop with a safety goal in mind, and keep safety as the number one priority.
SAFETY MUST BE OUR TOP PRIORITY TO ENJOY SUMMER TIME
DOWNLOAD SAFETY TOPICS HANDOUT (PDF)
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