Personal Protective Equipment, The Last Line of Defense – Education is key to employee safety
At Matrix Technologies, safety is at the top of our core values because we know our employees are our most valuable resource. We owe it to them and their families to ensure they return home each and every day injury free. Here is a closer look at how Matrix Technologies achieves this.
When you talk about hierarchy of controls in manufacturing plant safety, the inverted pyramid starts with engineering controls followed by administrative controls and ends with personal protective equipment (PPE). So is that all? Why is it that most people only talk about and rely on PPE?
At Matrix Technologies, we understand there is more to safety than PPE. Education is paramount to employee safety. As a company we cannot simply rely on a one-and-done philosophy when it comes to safety training. Here safety training is ongoing, with seven classes requiring annual refreshers. From there we branch out with another 19 classes with an update required every three years. Through continuous training, we keep safety at the forefront of our employees’ minds. Each of these classes includes an assessment to ensure employees thoroughly understand the specific safety topic.
In an industrial environment, you cannot rely solely on safety professionals to observe all crews all the time. So how do you compensate for this? Simple: Train all of your crews to be safety professionals. It is only when we have a fully trained staff and employee buy-in that we can achieve a true step change of safety culture. Once achieved, employees will not only be safer, they will help ensure the safety of others around them. The use of stop work authority – the expectation that any person can halt progress if conditions are unsafe – is a force multiplier when it comes to safety keeping themselves safe and the others around them. That is what makes Matrix Technologies a leader in safety.
Matrix Technologies is one of the largest independent process design, industrial automation engineering, and manufacturing operations management companies in North America. To learn more about our manufacturing operations management capabilities and our excellent safety record, contact Brian Thomas, COSS, Senior Safety Engineer.