I can't begin to tell you how many of our customers share with us how lucky they have been to be incident-free at their plant.

Or, because they have not had an incident in over 10 years, it is hard to justify the cost of a Machine Hazard & Risk Assessment. They will just continue to just press their luck.

If a production line has not had an incident or employee injury for 10 years, is that the result of an excellent safety culture or simply great luck? Are “hope” and “luck” proactive business strategies? 

Safety is not a matter of luck. It must be taken seriously. To begin with, you must accept that work-place accidents do happen, and they happen to perfectly nice people like you and me. Yes, sometimes we are lucky enough not to get hurt, even when we take unacceptable risks (like trying to adjust a machine which has not been de-energized or properly locked out). 

Many times, we hear that upper management was unable to justify the costs involved for a Machine Hazard & Risk Assessment because they haven’t had an incident before. Being proactive and eliminating risks before they lead to injury will protect the company’s people, the company’s image and will maximize productivity.

The Cost of Safety vs. The Cost of an Incident

Today, ISO 13849 and IEC 62061 are 2 main distinctive standards used as the building blocks. It is more than just compliance. Ensuring your machines can operate safely according to your production needs, will improve your planning and scheduling. Why wait until you receive a citation, or someone gets injured on the job, putting yourself into a triage situation, to do something about it? Reactive costs are far more expensive than proactive costs. A Machine Hazard & Risk Assessment will proactively help you prevent injury, downtime, and losses in production. Furthermore, Risk Assessments are known to impact company image, employee morale, stockholders, financial balance sheets, return on investments (ROI) and payments to worker’s compensation. 

The question is: Can you afford the cost of an accident? 

Risk assessments need to be performed prior to a serious incident that result in an OSHA citation, or a legal engagement, or a severe financial expense which will fall directly to the company’s bottom line. 

HOPE is not an effective strategy that should be used when it comes to Machine Safety

A top-tier management team realizes that the overall success of their company is a direct result of taking calculated risks, not counting on luck or hope! 

If given a choice, what would you choose, a structured, risk-based approach or luck?

If this blog has got you thinking, then why not check out the upcoming webinar on the benefits of performing a machine Hazard and Risk Assessment.  You may be glad you attend.

Safe operating.