5S Lean Manufacturing

The Five S program focuses on having visual order, organization, cleanliness and standardization. The results you can expect from a Five S program are: improved profitability, efficiency, service and safety.

The principles underlying a Five S program at first appear to be simple, obvious common sense. And they are. But until the advent of Five S programs many businesses ignored these basic principles.

What types of businesses benefit from a Five S program?

Everyone and all types of business benefit from having a Five S program.

Manufacturing and industrial plants come to mind first, as those are the business that can realize the greatest benefits. However, any type of business, from a retail store to a power plant -- from hospitals to television stations -- all types of businesses, and all areas within a business, will realize benefits from implementing a Five S program.

Benefits of Lean 5S"

One important purpose and benefit of 5 or 6S is to make your work area clean and in order to unhide potential problems. In an unclean workplace, it is hard to even notice things like "When did that machine start making that noise?" or "When did that start leaking oil?"
Another purpose and benefit is to reduce the amount of time wasted looking for misplaced tools, and materials, and supplies.
Most Lean initiatives start out with 5S training as one of the earliest initiatives, and there is a flurry of enthusiastic cleaning and organizing. The real test, however, is how well the new ways "stick" over time. The success of your 5s program is often an excellent predictor of the probable success of your greater lean manufacturing initiative.

The 5S's

Sort: The 5S workplace organization process usually starts out by sorting the useful from the unnecessary. The only things that should remain in a work area are the parts, tools, & instructions needed to do the job.

Straighten: Everything has a place; everything is in its place.
This is also a good time for your team to create a Visual Scoreboard, Jidoka lights, floor paint, kanbans, and other visual controls.

Sweep: Do an initial spring cleaning.
Maybe painting, scouring, sweeping, washing, rinsing, scrubbing, and whatever else is needed to make your work place shine.

Standardize: n the Standardize phase of Lean 5 S, routine cleaning becomes a way of life.
Preventative maintenance is routinely performed, perhaps with planning and scheduling and some responsibilities done by your central maintenance department, and as much routine maintenance as possible performed by the people that know that work center better than anyone else.

Sustain: Sustain is when five S becomes a routine way of life. Root causes are routinely identified and dealt with. The Systems2win 5 S forms and the Standard Work Audit are very familiar to everyone - both supervisors and the workers that have come to appreciate the benefits of Five S and Lean methods.

How to get started"

The essential thing is to have the workers evaluate every tool and machine, every pile of materials and supplies, every piece of instructional paper... to decide what is actually used, and how often.

• This can be done by marking any suspect items with a red tag, and then moving it out of the area into a temporary holding area (just in case it really is needed)...
  
• It can be accomplished by holding a mock auction - where the workers "bid" to plea their case for why an item should be kept.

The end result is to Sort the useful from the clutter.

Depending on the volume and complexity of the initial clutter - Sort can be its own phase, or you might have time to move right into an initial round of Straighten and Shine.

Be sure to take before and after photos - and distribute your highly visual success story far and wide to begin generating enthusiasm for your Lean program.

Hazards: Cuts, Lacerations, Amputation, Death

Safe Practices:

• Inspect all equipment for guards or shields prior to usage.
  
• All guards or shields must be in place when equipment is running.
  
• Guards or shields removed for maintenance must be properly replaced before use.
  
• Guards or shields affixed to equipment must not be readily removable by operator, so as to minimize the possibility of misuse or removal of essential parts.
  
• Report all missing or damaged guards or shields immediately to management.
  
• Never operate equipment with missing or damaged guards or shields.
  
• Never by-pass guards or shields installed by the manufacturer.
  
• Never remove warning or caution decals on equipment.
  
• Replace all warning or caution decals that are unreadable or missing.
  
• Always follow the manufacturer’s recommendation on maintenance or replacement of equipment guards or shields.
  

LOG 300 RECORD KEEPING

What?

The OSHA Log 300 Form is a form used to log occupational injuries and illnesses throughout the year. Employers in high-hazard establishments are obligated under OSHA's record keeping rules (29 CFR Part 1904) to maintain this log and post a summary notice during the year in each of their facilities. Fed-OSHA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) take a survey of this information each year to compile accurate injury and illness statistics. State-OSHA plans also participate. Most low-hazard businesses are exempt from the rules.

Who?

OSHA's record keeping rules apply to non-exempt businesses with 11 or more employees on payroll. Businesses with less than 11 employees are considered partially exempt. OSHA maintains a full list of industries that are fully exempt from Log 300 record keeping requirements. Additionally, OSHA and BLS are empowered to send a letter to an exempt or partially exempt business to ask them to maintain a Log 300 and related documentation to participate in the BLS annual survey of occupational injuries and illnesses.

How?

Under 29 CFR 1904, covered employers must determine whether an occupational injury or illness is required tobe recorded on the Log 300. Each qualifying occupational injury or illness must be documented on a report form called the OSHA 301 (or an equivalent, including any State OSHA equivalent form), and then recorded on the Log 300. At the end of the calendar year, the employer must transfer the Log 300 data to a summary notice called the OSHA 300-A (or an equivalent). This notice must be posted from February 1st through April 30th each year.

Requirements

Employers must log on their Log 300 Form any work-related injury that results in death, days away from work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness, or if the injury or illness is significant and diagnosed by a physician or licensed health care professional. Covered employers must fill-in, certify, and post the OSHA 300-A Summary notice from February 1st through April 30th each year, even if no injuries or illnesses occurred. All records (OSHA 300, 301, and 300-A) must be retained for period of five years following the end of the calendar year covered by the forms.

Temporary Staffing Employees

29 CFR 1904.31(a) Basic requirement: You must record on the OSHA 300 Log the recordable injuries and illnesses of all employees on your payroll, whether they are labor, executive, hourly, salary, part-time, seasonal, or migrant workers. You also must record the recordable injuries and illnesses that occur to employees who are not on your payroll if you supervise these employees on a day-to-day basis.

1904.31(b)(2)Implementation: If I obtain employees from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service, do I have to record an injury or illness occurring to one of those employees? You must record these injuries and illnesses if you supervise these employees on a day-to-day basis.

Top Violations Are Up Almost 30 Percent Since Last Year


Orlando, FL – The U.S. Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has revealed the preliminary top 10 most-frequent workplace safety violations for 2009 as part of a presentation at the NSC’s annual Congress & Expo. The number of top 10 violations has increased almost 30 percent over the same time period in 2008.

“We appreciate our colleagues at OSHA presenting their new violation data to such a receptive audience,” said National Safety Council President and CEO Janet Froetscher. “The sheer number of violations gives us new resolve in raising awareness about the importance of having sounds safety procedures.”

The workplace violations are:

1. Scaffolding – 9,093 violations

Scaffold accidents most often result from the planking or support giving way, or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.

2. Fall Protection – 6,771 violations

Any time a worker is at a height of four feet or more, the worker is at risk and needs to be protected. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction.

3. Hazard Communication – 6,378 violations

Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers.

4. Respiratory Protection – 3,803 violations

Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors and sprays. These hazards may cause cancer, lung impairment, other diseases or death.

5. Lockout-Tag out – 3,321 violations

"Lockout-Tag out” refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.

6. Electrical (Wiring) – 3,079 violations

Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

7. Ladders – 3,072 violations

Occupational fatalities caused by falls remain a serious public health problem. The US Department of Labor (DOL) lists falls as one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational death, accounting for eight percent of all occupational fatalities from trauma.

8. Powered Industrial Trucks – 2,993 violations

Each year, tens of thousands of injuries related to powered industrial trucks (PIT), or forklifts, occur in US workplaces. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks, lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, they are struck by a lift truck, or when they fall while on elevated pallets and tines.

9. Electrical – 2,556 violations

Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other professionals work with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, cable harnesses, and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and sales people, work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.

10. Machine Guarding – 2,364 violations

Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injures the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled