The Importance of Safety Awareness Communication for Manufacturing

Every year in the United States, more than 312,000 manufacturing workers are injured on the job, more than 60,000 contract illnesses because of workplace conditions, and nearly 350 more lose their lives due to workplace injuries. The manufacturing industry has the second-highest number of work injuries and illnesses among all industries, surpassed only by the healthcare and social assistance sectors. Safety awareness of digital signage in manufacturing environments provides a solution to this problem.

There are many causes of illness and injuries in manufacturing facilities. These include falls from high places, slips and fall on slippery floors or over objects on the floor, accidents due to improperly safeguarded machinery, forklift accidents, electrical hazards, muscle strain and repetitive-motion injuries, and injuries and illnesses caused by toxic substances.

Manufacturers are responsible for following OSHA regulations to help protect the safety of their employees. However, even when manufacturers do everything right, worker safety can be compromised if employees don’t take enough precautions to protect themselves. As a result, employers face increased expenses, lost productivity, and lower employee morale.

The Importance of Safety Awareness in Manufacturing

Employee safety is important in all industries, especially in the manufacturing sector because of the high rate of accidents and injuries. Both employers and their teams need to take action to promote a safe workplace. 

Awareness of hazards and how to avoid situations empowers employees to take action for their own safety, and for those around them. Awareness is the first crucial step. If your team is unaware of the dangers in their workplace, or what to do to avoid them, they will not be able to take steps to keep safe.

Increasing the awareness of safety is great for business! Protecting your employees from injury and illness will increase productivity and work quality. It will reduce absenteeism and raise employee morale. 

Managers who promote safety in manufacturing facilities face certain challenges. Production employees, unlike those typically attached to a computer, are not easy to reach by email. Production employees may not take the time or have the inclination to stop and read notices posted on bulletin boards. And they may tend to avoid information from management altogether.

Digital signage solves all of these problems. It provides an efficient and effective way to provide safety awareness messages in a format that is perfect for manufacturing workers to absorb. 

Digital signage is an extremely cost-effective solution for safety awareness communication for manufacturing that can be managed in-house. Screens can be mounted in places where even the busiest workers will see them. When the signages are distributed throughout the manufacturing facility, workers will see them as they move around on the job, and the messages will be constantly reinforced. 

Safety Awareness Through Digital Signage

Digital signage for manufacturing can spread the word about safety procedures to workers. These signs can raise awareness in manufacturing facilities about a variety of important safety concerns that workers should pay more attention to, including:

Compliance concerns:

• Personal protective equipment (PPE), is used to protect workers by minimizing exposure to hazardous substances and infectious diseases
• Lockout/Tagout, which are OSHA-required practices and procedures for disabling machinery and equipment to prevent hazardous energy release
• Machine guarding, by using physical barriers to enclose dangerous machine parts to prevent workers from coming in contact with them
• Preventing fall hazards, including cleaning up spills, removing obstacles in walkways, and using safe procedures when using ladders or working on higher levels
• Fire safety, including knowing when and how to use fire extinguishers, not using damaged cords or cables, not overloading outlets, using the stairs and not the elevator if there is a fire, and keeping equipment clean
• Safety procedures for being in confined spaces
• Hazard communication to provide notice of dangerous chemicals and other substances
• Warehouse safety, including best procedures for lifting and moving heavy objects, and safe practices around conveyor belts 
• Tow motor (also called forklift) safety, including safety practices for loading, driving, and working in the vicinity of forklifts
• Equipment safety, including equipment guarding
• Fall protection, including safety procedures when working on scaffolding

Performance Concerns:

• Emergency preparedness: raising awareness of how workers should act in case of fire and other emergencies
• Equipment inspection: informing workers of procedures necessary to help prevent an accident
• Situational awareness: training workers on how to respond to unexpected events
• Safe lifting: providing information on how workers can avoid injuring their backs or other muscles
• Waste reduction: preventing the build-up of hazardous substances
• Ladder safety: to prevent falls
• Fatigue: making workers aware of when they may be more likely to make dangerous errors of judgment
• Distractions: raising awareness of the danger by not focusing on the task at hand
• Slips trips, and falls: confirm all are keeping walking surfaces dry and free of obstacles
• Near miss accidents: making employees aware of what could happen the next time
• Complacency: warning all not to become complacent about their safety

There are several ways to present these messages to manufacturer workers, including:

• OSHA resources
• Training videos
• Formal classroom training
• Peer-to-peer training
• Worksite demonstrations
• Infomercials
• Informing workers of the number of days without accidents
• Safety reminders
• Digital messages
• Motivational phrases

Employee safety is a crucial concern in manufacturing facilities. Manufacturer workers have a high rate of accidents, injuries, and job-related illnesses. By increasing employee awareness of safety problems and knowledge of how they can prevent accidents, manufacturers can increase attendance rate, productivity, and worker morale.

S3 Technologies provides solutions to the problem of raising worker awareness of safety in the manufacturing sector. We have helped many companies successfully implement internal communication systems using different types of technology, including digital signage.

Our EngageS3 digital signage for manufacturing platform raises manufacturing safety awareness of everyday real-life issues in the workplace environment. Our visual communication systems bring awareness to life in a way that is easy and natural for employees and visitors to absorb. 

The EngageS3 platform is easy to use for everyone to use in everyday situations but robust enough for power users to get the maximum customization out of the system. Contact us today to find out more about our platform to raise safety awareness communication for manufacturing facilities.