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Former GM global safety director joins FDRsafety
FDRsafety is delighted to announce that Mike Taubitz is affiliating with the company as a senior advisor.
Mike has been an industry leader for years in both safety and lean manufacturing. He spent many years in top positions at General Motors, including stints as Global Safety Director and Global Regulatory Liaison.
Mike will be working with FDRsafety clients in all of the company's lines of services and you'll be seeing postings from him on the FDRsafety blog, with a special focus on the relationship between lean practices and safety. (See his article about the relationship between lean and safety a little later in this newsletter.)
Here is a note from Mike:
Allow me to introduce myself to readers of FDR Safety's Newsletter. I was in the automotive industry for over 43 years, mostly in engineering and safety. In the late 90s, I had my first "aha moment" when I learned how to do lean in office and business systems. At that time, I was an executive in the Industrial Engineering group and a passionate reader about lean and safety. Throughout my career, I had been challenged to eliminate "non-value added activity" and "waste." Imagine my surprise when I learned for the first time that there are seven forms of lean waste. It hit me, "How could I eliminate waste if I didn't know what it was and couldn't identify it?"
It would be like practicing safety with no clue about hazards and risk.
Fast forward 10 years and I had my second "aha" moment. Fred Rine and I met when he was an executive at National Safety Council in the early '90s. We hit it off, but lost track of each other. Via LinkedIn, we found each other last year. Fred invited me to attend an FDR Safety Awareness session being conducted by one of his VPs for an industrial organization. The program focuses on the "why" of acting safely rather than the "how." I was trying to comprehend how one could lead an all-day safety session built around 10 words and fewer slides - it didn't sound possible to me. I am so glad that I took him up on it, for I experienced my second "aha" moment. I realized that I had taken the "why" of safety for granted. I'm kind of a "techie" who is comfortable with management systems, risk assessment and standards - none of which appeal to the innate question of every employee, "What's in it for me?"
My eyes opened to something fundamental and profound that the safety profession has been missing. As a new member of the FDRsafety family, I look forward to working on something new that is profoundly simple. If you follow my blog postings, you will note that I'm passionate about integrating lean and safety and using that as a first step for further integration with "green." All of these are building blocks for sustainable growth. However, my passion will be built upon a new understanding - safety is a 24/7 value that is the foundation for everything we do.
For more information, contact Mike Taubitz at (810) 542-0885 or mtaubitz@fdrsafety.com
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How 'lean' practices and safety work together
By Mike Taubitz
Senior Advisor, FDRsafety
With most businesses focused on keeping their expenses tight in view of the economy, it's no wonder that talk about "lean" manufacturing is everywhere. What's less discussed, but just as important, is the relationship between working lean and working safe.
Lean, whether on the factory floor or in office and business systems, offers a logical integration with occupational safety. Many people hear the term "lean," but have little understanding of its true meaning. You will often hear about "flow", "respect for people," and a host of other terms that do not provide guidance on how to integrate lean and safety. This article gets at some of the basics.
"Lean" has seven forms of waste, including:
- Correction (having to fix errors)
- Over-production
- Motion
- Material Movement
- Waiting
- Inventory
- Process (cumbersome and bureaucratic or non-existent, either of which can result in too many steps, wasted time and poor quality)
Interwoven with these seven items is another type of waste: accidents and occupational illnesses. There is nothing more non-productive than accidents or illnesses. Aside from the harm to the employees, they also waste production time in clean-up, investigation and corrective action; waste resources as paid employees are taken out of productive use; and waste company energy as management and workers divert their attention and creativity away from the work at hand.
Reducing waste must, of necessity, include reducing the risk of accidents and illnesses.
Properly handled, the integration of safe and lean leads to an improved organizational culture for several reasons: - Both safety and lean require of top executives to demonstrate leadership, underscoring the value of these two principles to the organization.
- Lean business systems and processes not only make the workplace safer and more productive, but emotional stress and strain are greatly alleviated.
- Teamwork and standardizing non-standard work result in work that is faster and easier to perform with less training.
Lean has proven to make businesses faster, better and cheaper and is based upon respect for people and environment. Isn't that what we in Safety, Health and Environment are all about? Lean tools, coupled with the drive for continuous improvement, are great foundations and enablers for a safe working environment.
The integration of lean and safety may be a challenge because organizational silos abound in today's world. However, if safety is to be considered mainstream in the business organization, it is up to the professionals and practitioners to learn more about how we can assist with improving operational performance.
Make 2010 the year in which you learn more about lean and then integrate lean and safety in your own organization. Demonstrate to your management that this integration forms the basis for sustainable growth in a challenging and competitive world.
Mike Taubitz, former global director of safety for General Motors, recently joined FDRsafety as a senior advisor.
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Hydrogen sulfide training spurs unexpected demand
When one worker was killed and four
others were injured after breathing hydrogen sulfide at a gas well in
Ohio, the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program quickly launched
training to prevent a recurrence.
The training, held late last year,
was originally planned as three sessions of no more than 50 attendees
each. But demand was so strong that each session was expanded to 75
to 100 attendees and an extra date was scheduled. Reaction from those
who received the training was very positive.
FDRsafety, which conducted the sessions,
is now offering hydrogen sulfide training around the country. It can
be customized to the needs of the sponsoring company or organization.
The agenda for the Ohio session included:
Introduction and Expectations H2S Basic Information H2S Hazards and exposure H2S Safety Planning and
Hazard Assessments. First Aid Procedures pertaining
to H2S H2S Emergency Response Procedures H2S Detection Oil and Gas Confined Spaces
- Identification, Awareness, Planning and Procedure Implementation Questions and Answer Session/
Certificate Presentation
Hydrogen sulfide dangers are not limited
to the oil and gas industry. Sewage treatment plants must deal with
the problem as well and our training can be customized to other industries.
For more information, contact Jason
LeMasters at (740) 207-3104 or jlemasters@fdrsafety.com.
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New on the FDRsafety blog:
A simple way to improve safety - Communicate your values
Jim Stanley's latest blog entry details how a company with a world-class safety program is getting great results with a simple idea: Set safety values rather than priorities and then communicate them consistently to managers and workers. The difference between values and priorities? Priorities change; values don't. For the list of this company's values read the blog at www.fdrsafety.com/blog.
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FDRsafety
278 Franklin Road
Brentwood, Tennessee 37027888-755-8010
info@FDRsafety.com
ABOUT FDRsafetyAt the heart of FDRsafety is this simple idea: Extensive expertise and experience bring the best results. FDRsafety is led by two nationally recognized, long-time leaders in safety: Fred Rine and Jim Stanley. Each has decades of experience improving occupational safety and health performance at companies of all sizes, including complex multi-billion dollar, multinational organizations. FDRsafety can meet your needs for a wide range of safety and health services, including training, OSHA compliance, safety staffing and expert witnesses. Contact us to learn how we can help you reduce accidents, meet federal, state and local legal requirements, reduce costs, and most importantly, protect your greatest assets - your employees.
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