A predominant element of the corporate culture of global manufacturing firms, which include the major industrial and medical gas manufacturers, is an integrated safety and risk management program that forms a core element of their management philosophy. These companies religiously adhere to their safety standards and programs as most have learned the hard way that the money spent on safety is a very prudent business investment that delivers solid financial returns year after year.
Smaller firms, such as Welding and Gas distributors, typically pay much less attention to managing safety issues as they may not have experienced the type of catastrophic event that often precedes a firm’s commitment to a strong safety and risk management program. However, no industrial or medical gas business is risk free, and this article will examine some safety exposures that even the smallest gases business should be effectively managing to safeguard their operations, their employees, and the financial health of their business.
Welding and Gas distributors face significant safety exposures from two vastly different arenas—manufacturing/gas filling operations and transport/delivery operations. Transportation risks arise from operating on public highways and the hazards associated with these operations generally fall outside the control of the firm’s managers. Prudent companies train their drivers to recognize and deal with the myriad of risks their drivers face on public highways. Company managers are forced to depend on that training and preparation as their main risk management strategy for the vehicles that leave their facility and go into harm’s way on the public road network.
Unlike transportation, the hazards associated with manufacturing operations predominately fall under the control of the company’s management and employees. Company managers have the opportunity to structure and control their operations to effectively manage potential variables that can affect safety to an extent not possible on the open highway. While transport and manufacturing safety have a common goal—to prevent losses and keep employees safe—they typically utilize different approaches and tools. This article will focus on manufacturing safety. In a follow up article, we will look at transportation safety management.
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