A series of blog posts from the safety and compliance consultants at KPA, Lafayette, CO, addresses the Top 10 Manufacturing Safety Tips.

“Manufacturing compliance is no joke,” writes author Toby Graham, director of marketing at KPA.  “Regulatory authorities such as the Occupational Health and Safety Administration are paying close attention to your safety program, just waiting to hit you with massive fines if they discover any issues…. Lucky for you, we have no shortage of tips for manufacturing health, safety and compliance.”

Tip One: Lock down your biggest risk areas, and Graham takes a deep dive into five of the most common safety hazards in manufacturing, based on the frequency of OSHA violations:

• Machine Guarding
• Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout-Tagout)
• Hazard Communication
• Respiratory Protection
• Electrical Wiring Methods

The blog post specific to lockout-tagout delves into some of the most common reasons violations happen--failing to identify every source of hazardous energy is one—and outlines the minimum procedures required. It also makes no bones about what companies stand to lose when violations occur:

“OSHA penalties can exceed $13,000 per violation—and as much per day for every day the issue hasn’t been fixed by OSHA’s deadline. The fine for a willful or repeated violation can be 10 times as much.”

For more safety tips, visit PMA's safety resources here.