Safety management involves a series of activities designed to reduce workplace risks that could cause personal injury, damage to facilities or result in legal repercussions against an organization. To cultivate a robust security culture, organizations hire security managers who develop, lead the implementation and update security procedures at a facility, in strict compliance with legal provisions.
Security management functions vary depending on the organizational structure and complexity of the facility. It is a safety manager's duty to check that a facility operates in accordance with legal health and safety standards, whilst also developing proactive contingency plans to deal with likely emergencies.
A well-organized Maintenance Department complements the efforts of a safety manager by ensuring that production facilities and equipment operate correctly and safely. Coherent maintenance programs eliminate the incidence of unplanned breakdowns that can worsen workplace accidents.
Maintenance operations are high-risk activities that involve non-routine operations and must be carried out within strict deadlines. Maintenance personnel come into close contact with machines to take corrective action. In some cases, they are forced to operate in confined spaces or at heights, increasing their exposure to hazards. Maintenance operations require strict adherence to safety protocols as the likelihood of accidents due to human error increases during facility maintenance.
Functions
1. Formulation of Security Policies and Procedures
Safety managers are responsible for guiding maintenance teams and the entire organization towards accident-free workplaces by formulating sound, realistic and understandable safety policies.
To accomplish this, the safety manager examines the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). This lays the foundation for the safety manager to conduct a full health and safety audit of a target facility, assessing the dominant hazards and inherent safety impacts of all equipment and systems. The safety audit examines maintenance staff's work practices and their overall preparedness to respond to emergencies.
Facility occupants provide valuable insight into daily operations and routine maintenance activities, offering valuable insight into frequent safety issues. This helps managers identify additional security aspects that may be overlooked during the security audit. They highlight previous scenarios and expose corrective measures that were adopted to keep the situation under control.
Collectively, data from safety audits, examination of maintenance and production plans, and occupant input form the backbone for the organization to design and document a clear, detailed safety policy.
2. Monitoring the Execution of Security Policies
Security managers oversee the implementation of all documented security policies, carefully evaluating the integration of policies into facility maintenance operations. Physical anomalies identified during the audit must be immediately corrected, after which a proactive plan is adopted to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
During policy implementation, the safety manager maintains contact with senior management to provide appropriate protective equipment and work tools to all maintenance teams. Protective equipment such as gloves, coveralls, safety boots, dust masks, and goggles reduce exposure to hazards. Using the correct work tools decreases the overall maintenance workload.
The Security Manager will frequently tour the facility to oversee and enforce security policies, detecting, recording and instantly correcting any policy violations. To evaluate the success of the safety program, managers evaluate the correct use of PPE and work tools and examine trends related to the frequency of safety incidents within a facility.
3. Personnel training and ongoing security assessments
The security manager ensures that all maintenance personnel are aware of the facility's security policies by promptly informing them of any changes. The manager conducts rigorous training through on-the-job training and provides visual or textual materials for reference. The training period provides an opportunity for maintenance teams to seek clarification on unclear clauses included in the policy.
For policies that are accompanied by the introduction of additional security equipment, such as alarms, the security manager will guide section heads and maintenance teams in working out how the additional improvements will affect their routines.
As technology advances, facilities are required to adopt multiple production and maintenance solutions in order to increase productivity and enhance safety. These changes affect security policies, requiring them to be continually updated in order to compete favorably in a dynamic market. Security managers are always evaluating existing policies to identify gaps and establish a database of emerging security gaps in maintenance activities and provide proactive solutions for them.
4. Formulate procedures for reporting and documenting accidents
Despite organizations' efforts to instill unique safety cultures within their facilities, isolated incidents amounting to 2.8 workplace injuries per 100 full-time workers were reported in 2020 to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). In these cases, it is vital that safety managers develop transparent systems through which maintenance teams can report and document accidents.
Workplace accidents, both minor and serious, occur without warning, leaving maintenance teams confused. If not managed well, emergencies escalate quickly, causing irreversible damage. By creating an accident reporting system, the safety manager outlines reliable emergency measures to keep accidents under control.
Part of the measures include safe evacuation plans in case of fires, basic first aid procedures, safe closure procedures and protective shelters. The system must also provide mechanisms to hold all personnel accountable once the risk has been eliminated.
5. Formulating Security Awareness Campaigns
The best way for safety managers to test the readiness of maintenance teams to respond to emergencies at a facility is through simulated safety exercises. Security managers may, at their discretion, formulate an awareness plan to verify staff knowledge of existing security procedures.
To encourage employee participation in promoting workplace safety, managers design reward programs to reward individuals who strictly follow established safety guidelines. Safety awareness campaigns improve staff familiarity with facility safety regulations while nurturing a positive safety culture among individuals.
In short
Facility security is a function of adequate maintenance programs and the successful implementation of security policies. Safety managers are an integral part of any company's quest to fully comply with the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. They are multi-skilled individuals who possess appropriate leadership and technical skills, whose roles within a facility complement and enhance maintenance operations.
Implementing a security policy consumes a considerable amount of time and resources, requires a robust strategic plan and must be subject to repeated testing to increase its chances of success. Security managers must always monitor the implementation of security policies, periodically updating procedures to meet new developments at facilities.
About-
Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS . Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate and streamline their maintenance operations.
