Practice Two Forms of Safety

If the big yellow hard hat on the June cover of Efficient Plant wasn’t a strong enough indicator, this is our annual safety issue. It’s also National Safety Month, but for manufacturing operations, every month is national safety month. An argument can be made that there is no aspect of any manufacturing operation more important than safety. Yes, even more important than profits because poor safety practices can take big chunks out of the bottom line.

With safety on my mind, I naturally wondered what OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Washington, osha.gov) lists as its top safety violations. The most-recent list, published at the end of FY 2017:

• Fall protection
• Hazard communication
• Scaffolding
• Respiratory protection
• Lockout/tagout.

Also in the top 10 are powered industrial trucks at number 7, machine guarding at 8, and electrical wiring methods at number 10. We offer some help with machine safety, electrical issues and overall safety-data analysis. While safety is a top priority at all levels for most companies, this OSHA list indicates that there is much room for improvement in various areas. National Safety Month is a good time to step up your game.

Cyber safety

The other safety issue we want to keep in your heads is network safety, specifically cybersecurity. Pause for a moment and do a quick mental survey of all of the assets in your operation that generate/use electronic data. Now, consider that all of them are vulnerable to a variety of intrusion activities that could cost your plant time/money and/or result in accidents. It won’t take but a few seconds for you to realize that, after overall safety, cybersecurity should be priority 1A on your list.

Don’t have cybersecurity protocols? Have them but aren’t sure if they’re effective or even followed? I can assure you, you’re not alone. To help you at least ask some informed questions, I did a quick search of the interwebs for some kind of guide and tripped over two free ebooks from Bitsight Technologies Inc., Cambridge, MA. The first is 12 Cybersecurity Metrics Your Vendors (And You) Should Be Watching. The other is 40 Questions You Should Have In Your Vendor Security Assessment. They’re free publications (in exchange for your email address), quick reads, and written so regular folks can understand them.

Cybersecurity is one of those facets of doing business that’s rarely understood, easily ignored, and often viewed as an expense with no return. But it’s a facet that can cause serious damage to your operations in any number of ways. If nothing else, set aside an hour on a Friday afternoon and take a look at your system. You’ll either be rather proud or scared to death. EP

gparr@efficientplantmag.com