General Safety Training

Training Instructor: George Bunker - george@im-inc.com - 970-632-4917

Course Duration: 00:10:00

Safety is a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological, or material harm are controlled in order to preserve the health and well-being of individuals and the community. It is an essential resource for everyday life necissary for individuals and communities to realize their aspirations and dreams.

The processes here at Innovations Manufacturing (the Company) come with their own unique set of hazards. Major hazards common to the Company include:

• Slips, trips, and falls
• Sharp edges
• Machine guarding
• Powered industrial vehicles or forklifts
• Electrical hazards
• Lock Out Tag Out (LO/TO) of equipment
• Environmental hazards

The Company has performed a Hazard Assessment to determine the hazards associated with the work performed in the manufacturing process and those hazards are covered in the safety orientation and annual training module located at www.im-safety.com under the Training tab.

The Company Safety Orientation provides information to inform you of the hazards that have been identified in the Company work areas with a general overview of what steps to take if you encounter an uncontrolled hazard. In addition, you may be assigned additional individual training modules that relate to the hazards unique to the specific risk exposures unique to your assigned duties.

Another important aspect of safety is derived from knowledge and experience. Knowledge and experience translate to a healthy level of common sense. Common sense is a persons acquired practical judgment that develops through life experiences. Observing another person’s level of common sense can be a head scratcher, but on the job, you can make a huge impact on how another person acquires their common sense. You can share your life experiences and actively mentor workers who don’t have your level of job-related experience. Your interaction can make or break a new and inexperienced worker, and you can have a lasting positive impact on that person’s outcome in life. For me it was Singing Bob, the manager who first mentored me as a young and hungry kid who hoped to become an experienced professional one day. Singing Bob taught me something at every encounter and he was genuinely interested in seeing me catch on to the workings of the job. Singing Bob had a big impact on who I am today...

Unfortunately, ole Singing Bob didn’t take such good care of his health on or off the job so he isn’t with us anymore, but as you learn more about our values here at Innovations Manufacturing, you will learn more about ole Singing Bob.

Common sense is the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us function in a safe way. We acquire this practical knowledge and judgment through training, through the experiences of others, and through our own life experiences. For example, while growing up, we learn not to put our hand onto a hot stove, either by having a negative experience and feeling the pain ourselves, or by being told by someone else that it will burn.

It is often presumed that we all possess the same level of common sense. This is where the issue comes into play in the workplace. Have you ever said, “that guy should have used more common sense than that!”?

A person’s life experiences are unique to them individually, and their level of common sense is a reflection of their life experiences. What if that worker never used a miter saw before, or he has never worked around metal cutting operations before now, or she never worked around a forklift before. We must always be on the lookout for ways we can pass on our knowledge and experiences in a respectful way that encourages the recipient to reciprocate those learnings down the road.

Some of the best methods we can use to collectively foster the growth of common sense among others are:

• Share our personal experiences related to the job, talk about what can go wrong, and talk about what makes things go right.
• Take time to complete the safety training provided by the Company and retrain as needed or as required.
• Talk to your supervisor if you don’t understand any aspect of your responsibilities.
• Stop what you are doing if something doesn’t feel right, and don’t be afraid to get a second opinion.
• Listen to your gut. Your intuition will often provide subtle promptings just before a misstep is made.

Finally, there are four key disciplines (4DS) required of every employee in order to reach our safety objectives:

1. Everybody must understand the GOAL:

• To protect our Workers, the Environment, our Assets, and our Reputation by targeting zero accidents.

2. Leading Measures:

• Have a good plan, that
• Identifies and mitigates the hazards, and
• Every employee must STOP work when something is not right and resolve the threat before restarting activities

3. Performance Expectations:

• The Company will measure the safety performance of every team member
• The company maintains a safety performance scorecard and makes it available at all times at the Company Safety Solution Center: www.im-safety.com
• All employees will be motivated through a risk vs. reward incentive program. The risk of taking shortcuts and not following the safety rules will have a greater detriment than doing things the right way. Just the same, doing things, the right way, according to established procedure, will be rewarded!

4. Accountability:

• Accountability is accomplished through the application of communicating expectations, training, coaching, and continual improvement. Employees who work safe and follow procedures will be openly recognized for their efforts.

Your safety here at Innovations Manufacturing is of great value to us! Please be very cognizant of your every action to make sure you are not taking any unnecessary risk, unsafe shortcuts, or placing you or others at risk. Here are a couple things you can do all the time to prevent bad things from happening.

• If you don’t understand the task, let your supervisor know.
• If you haven’t had training, let your supervisor know.
• If you feel something isn’t right, stop the job and make it right.
• If you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs or prescriptions that prevent you from performing at peak performance, you shouldn’t be in the workplace. Please let your supervisor know immediatly!
• Focus on the task at hand and don’t let your personal situation interfere with your obligation to focus on the tasks of your job.
• Be positive and don’t participate in drama.

Your good health and situational awareness are important to the Company, and it should be important to you as well. We need you to show up every day with the goal of ending the day without injury or incident. Make smart decisions that feed into the goal.

Take pride in your job and your job will take care of you!