Keats’ Commitment to Safety

June is National Safety Month, and we at Keats heartily approve of the push for awareness and implementation of robust safety procedures in the workplace.  Part of what constitutes a job well done for us is a job that minimizes the risk involved with the operation of custom manufacturing equipment to provide the highest levels of safety and comfort to our employees, and peace of mind to their families.  It’s a commitment of ours, which is why we are doing our part to encourage best safety practices, and have taken proactive precautionary steps in our own shop to ensure we keep our employees safe and healthy.

We maintain a high level of cleanliness and organization on our shop floors – reducing clutter is not only efficient for productivity, but we've found that maintaining clear pathways between machines and organized works paces leads to a safer work environment.  It’s been years since we've had a lost-day accident – and this is thanks in large to our commitment to the continual improvement of our safety protocols.  Another proactive measure we've taken is to meet with our floor managers to design improved lock-out/tag-out procedures on our machines, and improved spill containment procedures - these conversations between management and operator are important for consistency and clarity of approach, and ensure that policies are accurate and effective for our operators.  Since our machines require specialized knowledge for operation and control, we have found that lock-out/tag-out procedures work well to ensure only those trained on particular machines can use them.  For spill containment, we not only want to provide our employees with knowledge of how to prevent these occurrences, but resources and training for what to do in the event that a spill occurs – this is why we insist on having our safety training in-house, so that we can be sure each employee is given job-specific instruction for maximum safety in every situation.

These are some of many ways in which we at Keats have chosen to promote the safety of our employees.  We hope you’ll join with us in doing the same, and pursue policies and procedures that work for your company to prevent injury, protect employees, and improve lives.

Getting Involved with Education and the Environment

In February, we blogged about our internship program, and we noted that, increasingly, schools just aren’t spending enough time providing students with the critical skills they need in math and science to prepare them for real-world jobs in areas such as advanced manufacturing.

So we would like to take this opportunity to promote an initiative that is working to remedy this problem. A group called the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics held educational activities throughout the United States in April to boost awareness among young people of the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM).

These efforts (in the form of special lectures, events, contests, and so forth in schools) focused on the “Mathematics of Sustainability” in order to “spotlight the role of mathematics in helping us balance human needs against the world’s resources while operating within the constraints of nature, while seeking creative solutions for a sustainable way of life.” It’s quite a mouthful, but we think it translates into reaching out to the next generation of Americans to emphasize how important it is to study hard not just for themselves but also for their communities -- and even their world.

For example, in our own shop, we recently held an eight-week basic metalworking skills class in partnership with the Jane Addams Resource Corp. (JARC) for our newer employees. We taught math as it applies to manufacturing (introduction to statistical control, etc.). We have a joint partnership with JARC, and their instructors come out to our facility whenever we have enough new employees to run through the program (we had 12 this time).

Math Awareness Month is a worthy project, and we encourage our customers and friends to support it if they can -- even if you just tweet about it. It’s something we all have a vested interest in.

Frankly, we think every month should be devoted to improving the skills of our present and future employees.