Starting a new era

In this day and age with advanced machinery and a number of dangerous jobs occurring simultaneously on the factory floor, technology such as Environmental, Health and Safety software is key in preventing injuries before they take place. With so many businesses turning to big data as a means of finding actionable insights, it makes sense for automotive manufacturers and autobody shops to do the same and improve their safety culture.

Behavior-based safety culture has been around for a while. Used in conjunction with modern statistical analysis, it can be leveraged to ensure that once an accident happens, it doesn’t happen again. H. W. Heinrich is credited as the researcher behind the widely adopted method

Heinrich found a correlation between incident and cause as he reviewed 63,000 injury reports in the 1930s and 40s. Each accident, he found, had a root cause that was directly attributable to the safety culture. He stated there are five factors that create an incident – social environment was the first in the line of dominoes. Using Heinrich’s research, modern day safety managers can make a connection between root cause and the environment supporting it.

Through applying this knowledge to data on incident reports, facilities can actively detect any future incidents that may occur. This is only possible through a behavioral-based approach, which allows managers to intervene and understand the situation better than the numbers can. In this instance, it is also imperative that reports are filed for near-misses as well, as any data helps to mitigate the possibility of a reoccurrence.

Know dangerous areas

There shouldn’t be any guessing about whether an accident will occur on any given day. With a sound strategy and enterprise hazard analysis software backing an organization’s decisions, companies can keep their workers safe.

It’s important to understand which injuries and poor practices are most common among automotive industry employees. Most of them are easily preventable, according to the Israel Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene:

• Musculoskeletal.
• Mishandling or contact with equipment.
• Slips and falls.
• Lack of safety gear.

By analyzing data gathered from past injury records, safety managers can quickly produce risk assessments that identify where and how the most common and dangerous accidents occur. Instead of waiting for the next incident to shed some light on where most injuries originate, organizations can get out ahead of the action and place employee safety on a pedestal with EHS software.