Safety Consultation & Inspection: Reporting on a Manufacturing Facility
Holly Scammon, Nicholas Nieves, Lea Mahoney, Nelson Pusquin-Nieves, Alberto Carrillo
Background: In October of 2021, a safety consultation and inspection were conducted within a manufacturing facility in the Daytona Beach area. The inspection was conducted by a group of students pursuing their Master of Science in Occupational Safety Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The inspection began via a conversation with the facility’s safety manager and a senior employee. The group initially discussed the current state of the workplace, the policies and procedures in place for the different operations, and a serious violation the company was in the process of abating. As the conversation progressed it became apparent there were minimal written policies and training provided to employees. Following the discussion, an inspection was conducted using a checklist derived from similar industries and a review of top violations in those industries in 2021.
Approach: Investigations into similar industries were conducted prior to the inspection of the facility to help identify key areas of interest. Furthermore, company history was investigated to determine if there were any active or past OSHA violations or citations. The finalized inspection checklist highlighted key areas of interest including lockout-tagout procedures, respiratory protection, hazard communication, machine guarding, and powered industrial trucks.
Results: The facility was found to be non-compliant with multiple OSHA regulations listed in the 1910 standard. Further recommendations were made to the management staff regarding the integration of a Safety Management System (SMS) for the safety and wellbeing of their workers.
Conclusions: The group provided the facility’s management staff with recommendations pertaining to the correction of identified hazards around the workplace. The final report also included suggestions regarding the implementation of an SMS at the facility. The management team's willingness to change and implement those recommendations was positive, with relatively strong responsiveness to the final report submitted. The inspection team recommended a follow-up inspection be completed within the year to assess changes made by the management staff based on the safety consultation and inspection.