APA, February 08 – Safety comes first, not only in Ford cars but also in the workplaces for those who make the vehicles. Operations in Australia, Taiwan and India did such a good job in making the working environment healthy and safe that they were among the winners of the 2009 President’s Health and Safety Awards handed out in the global Ford world.

@Ford online chats with the three markets in the Asia Pacific and Africa region that won the Regional Replication Innovation Award which recognizes innovative solutions that improve existing processes or practices.

Australia: No lights, no siren, no go

Ford Australia has 18 huge bridge cranes all around its stamping plant in Geelong which are used to pick up heavy tools like the dies. While each crane is controlled remotely via a pendant using radio waves, there have been several near misses where crane operators ended up activating the wrong crane because the labels on the pendants had deteriorated over time.

The shop floor personnel came up with an idea to rewire the control circuit of the cranes so that when the operator presses the Start button on the pendant, the crane that it operates will light up and emit an audible alarm. Crane movement is suspended until the operator acknowledges on the pendant that it’s the correct crane.

“There’s been great ownership of the solution because we’ve involved the crane operators and the local tradespeople in the solution,” said Kevin Brown, Geelong operations manager. “And we haven’t had any near misses ever since.”

Taiwan: Hot stuff

The fire changed everything. It all began when welders working on a pipe in the plant decided to cut a bigger hole in the wall to solve the problem. The wall, unfortunately, contained combustible material and very quickly went up in flames and smoke. It turned out that the fire was due to inadequacies in the approval process for a hot work permit.

The new system delineates hot work areas based on four different risk levels instead of the previous classification of three zones. The permit now comes with a colour-coded map of the plant based on the risk levels, along with detailed instructions on when a permit is needed and who to get approval from. Moreover, supervisors have become more diligent in checking the site before approval.

“In the past, they might just approve the permit without doing any inspections,” said Joanne Chou, Ford Lio Ho’s health, safety and training manager. “The procedure is very robust now and the supervisors are very careful to go to the site to make inspections before they sign anything.”

India: The safety “Bible”

For three years, Ford India’s check list for Safety Risk Assessment (SRA) in the stamping plant was a finalist for this award. This time, it’s bagged them the winner. The check list contains 66 examples for 14 typical hazards with each case study showing the before and after scenario as well as solutions to the problem.

Previously, the SRA engineer conducts the assessment based on his experience and knowledge of specific processes. But this manual takes out the guesswork and provides a comprehensive guide to all the processes in the plant. It can also be used as training material for SRA engineers in the region.

Safety metrics have improved drastically – the number of occupational injuries that require medical attention has dropped from 13 a year to four a year in the last two years. “The morale of our stamping employees has gone up by a lot as the shop is quite safe now,” said Arthur Devadawson, the plant’s general manager.

Health and Safety Professional of the Year Award

Under the watch of David Tuddenham, who started in Ford as an electrician in 1989 and is now safety supervisor for Australia’s Geelong manufacturing operations, the number of near misses has gone down while safe work practices have gone up.

Tuddenham recently developed a risk matrix to convince employees of the importance of being aware of their surroundings and taking extra safety measures while the building is being renovated.

He also helped to take the Safe Behaviour Index (SBI) from 3.4% to 1.7% in a year. The index measures compliance with safe work practices and safety rules, so a figure of 0% means perfect compliance.

Previously, safety engineers conducted fortnightly audits to check on the compliance with safe behaviours. But under a new process, which was a finalist in the Regional Replication Innovation Award, area managers were taken on mock SBI audits as observers so they know what to look out for. Daily supervisor SBI audits were also added to the biweekly checks.

“In the past, the safety engineers were seen on the shop floor as the safety police and during an audit, you could see the behaviours changing as you approached,” said Tuddenham. “But area supervisors now take ownership of the SBI score and employees are helping to correct one another’s behaviour.”

Australia-A bridge crane in operation	Taiwan-Making hot work safe
India-A slide from its safety risk