How to ensure manufacturing safety

Now, when it comes to manufacturing, there's really nothing more important than safety. The safety of your employees, the safety of your equipment, your own safety. There's nothing worse than an accident on the job. An accident on the job can change for the worse dozens of lives, and not just your own. Therefore, you really can't be too careful when it comes to ensuring manufacturing safety. Let's look at a few ideas on how to do this.
1. To ensure manufacturing safety, make sure that you don't cut corners at all when it comes to the readiness, updated-ness, excellence, and so on, of your machinery. NEVER stick with old, outmoded machinery just because it's easier to do so. Old, outmoded machinery is one of the chief causes of accidents at manufacturing sites. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to clean out your warehouse and haul in big, new, cripplingly expensive machines. Most of the times your just going to be looking at installing the latest safety features on the machines you already have.

2. Which means, of course, that to ensure manufacturing safety you have to be aware of this stuff. That is, you have to stay abreast of the latest developments in manufacturing safety. There are whole magazines devoted to this issue, and the Internet abounds with sites discussing manufacturing safety in close detail. Be aware of these magazines (or whatever) and sites. Keep up with them. If you can afford it, hire a fulltime manufacturing safety expert. Someone who will not only read the materials; he will implement them and constantly be on the lookout for improvements.
3. To ensure manufacturing safety, TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES. The importance of this step cannot be stressed enough. It's not enough to go through the motions, you must make your employees experts in manufacturing safety. You've got to train them and train them, you've got to make them KNOW that, in manufacturing, one moment of carelessness can lead to the loss of an eye, a hand, or worse. Hold training seminars, of course, for new employees, but schedule regular seminars to update old employees as well. Training is key. Training is where you bring in everyone from the company, top to bottom, and seriously discuss an issue that affects them all. Be humble enough to listen to the ideas of your employees. Ask them for those ideas. After all, they're the ones down on the floor, doing the sweaty work, running those huge, dangerous machines.And you've got to do more than merely listen; you've got to actually implement important suggestions, so that your employees see that you truly care about their safety.
4. One standard way of dealing with manufacturing safety is to put up signs and so forth that warn about unfocused behavior. Now, this step is obviously not the most important one, but it is important. Just find ways to keep constant reminders of the importance of manufacturing safety in front of your employees. More than signs, have regular little coffee breaks or whatever where everyone can relax and discuss briefly the subject.
5. Make sure that your employees are highly trained in doing their jobs. Don't hire someone because he'll work for nothing. They've got to be as good at their jobs as you are in yours.