Safety in your workplace should always be number one priority, especially when it comes to manufacturing facilities that operate larger, potentially dangerous electrical equipment. If you’re looking to ensure all safety steps are being taken in your facility, check out our tips on how to maintain a safer place of operations below!
Keep Records of All Your Electrical Equipment
With all the machinery used in manufacturing facilities, it’s impossible to remember everything that’s happened to your equipment or when and why something needed maintenance. One easy fix for this problem is to simply record the inner workings of your facility digitally or on paper.
Keep a ledger of all your equipment and record any issues, repairs and inspection dates for all. This is a good way to keep tabs on everything and allows you to pull these records in case they are needed during routine inspections or maintenance.
Verify Equipment Is Not Located in Hazardous Environments
Never leave electrical equipment or cords in humid, wet or hot conditions where they can be damaged or cause injury. If some of your machinery is powered from an outside source, ensure that you use waterproof cords that are equipped to handle harsher conditions.
All cords should be located in a cool, dry space out of the way of your employees’ walking paths throughout the facility.
Keep All Electrical Machinery Clean
Good hygiene practices with your machinery is a great way to keep your equipment running at 100 percent and maintain a smooth, pleasant workplace for employees.
The exact frequency of cleanings depends on what you’re producing. In the food industry, for example, processing equipment should be cleaned every 24 hours or between production batches.
Always Keep Tabs on Electrical Machinery
Maintaining electrical equipment at your facility is important if you want to avoid unexpected halts in production or workplace accidents. Ensure that you have regularly scheduled inspections of your equipment and electrical carried out and never hold off on fixing problems with either.
Monitor the Condition of Safety Devices
Safety devices, such as circuit breakers and GFCI, should always be frequently monitored for signs of wear and tear or damage from tampering. If you notice damage, melting or smell burnt plastic when near any of these devices, replace immediately!
These are products meant to protect your entire facility from disaster, so it’s crucial that they’re well maintained and working optimally.
Thoroughly Train Employees
A Manufacturing facility uses some pretty heavy duty electrical machinery to operate, making it a dangerous environment for employees if they didn’t receive the proper training.
Always make sure your employees are thoroughly trained prior to working machinery alone. Additionally, ensure that even your long-time employees are brushed up on how to safely operate the machines, especially following upgrades to new equipment.
Study Manuals for Electrical Equipment in Your Facility
If you don’t fully understand how the electrical equipment works in your facility, it’s time to do some studying! Make sure to keep all your machines’ manuals on hand at your place of operations and take time to read over each when possible.
The more you know about safely operating these devices, the better you can educate your employees to do so as well!
Make Technological Upgrades When Needed
If your machinery is outdated and not running at max efficiency, it may be time to invest in upgrades. Working with older equipment may be hindering your production potential and causing unnecessary strain on the workplace if the equipment is more labor-intensive than newer models.
Additionally, upgrading can also reduce the risk of injuries and incentivize future employees to work for you, since they know you care about the safety of your team and creating a good workplace environment.
Plan Ahead for Equipment Issues
Let’s face it, regardless of how well-maintained your facility is, it’s impossible to avoid equipment failures forever. That’s why it’s important to have a plan B for those situations.
Keep backup generators on hand in case of power outages and give your employees clear instructions on what to do when things go wrong at the facility. This ensures that when disaster occurs, you can minimize your facility’s downtown, reduce risk of injury, and get back to operations fast.
Never Try to Fix Electrical Problems Yourself
If you’re noticing an issue with your electrical that is hindering operations, always hire a professional to check it out. In addition to possibly making something worse, someone that is not trained to handle electrical could be severely injured or suffer fatal shock.
Need Quality Electrical Services in Pierce County?
Tapps Electric is here for you! Our team of highly skilled and licensed contractors can handle commercial and industrial projects large and small. Whether you’re in need of a full rewire or electrical maintenance work at your facility, we will get the job done right and have you back to business in no time! Check out our services page for more or fill out our form online to get your free quote today!
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