INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY – THE EXPERT LARRY FALK TELS HOW
Safety of machinery – an investment, not a cost. On The day of machine safety, you will meet the specialist within safety of machinery and Christer Fuglesang who will till you about his dramatic adventures in space.
Sis – Swedish Standards Institute. After earlier success, SIS Safety of machinery-day will yet return to Gothenburg. In November 7 you will be able to meet the most knowledgeable persons within safety of machinery and also be able to network with colleagues in the same field. Here SIS gather all their knowledge in safety of machinery and applicable standards that will show you the way to safe machines and a good working environment.
We ask Larry Falk on PREKAM, who has been working with safety of machinery, standards and documentation for over 30 years.
- Why are safety of machinery important?
Larry explains that it’s partly the legal aspect, namely the fact that directives are laws and that ignoring them is a crime against The work environment act. But the most important bit, he says, is to understand the added value.
– To work with Safety of machinery in a structured way, means that you will increase the safety, improve the working environment, reduce accidents in the workplace and improve the overall productivity, he says.
An investment, not a cost
Larry talks about a company that saw questions regarding safety of machinery primarily as a cost. They measured their productivity before and after they made risk assessments, created manuals and educated the staff. It was then shown that they actually had increased their productivity between 10-15 percent and that the “payoff time” was three months. They then realized this had been an investment, not a cost.
How could the productivity increase?
– It’s about reducing risks, structure manuals and educate operators and maintenance staff in safe and effective working methods. The more knowledge you get regarding the applications, the faster you can perform the different tasks needed in the process.
Are harmonized standards voluntary?
Harmonized standards are called voluntary. But, what does this really mean? Larry says that there is a connection between directives and standards, which means that if you use the standards, you will also meet the directives. If you don’t use the standard, you will have to prove in other ways that you have met the directives.
– If you can’t follow the standard, for example due to evacuation reasons or contradicting standards, you can of course, choose to ignore it, but you then have to explain why you did it and what else you have done to reduce the risks to meet the safety requirements and directives, says Larry.
Secure the trade obstacles
Last but not least, Larry wants to raise the aspect of standardization work and their importance in a trade perspective and in a EU-perspective. Due to the debate today where you think about yourself when it comes to trade, it is important to lower the hindrances. To try to open your markets instead and create standards that makes it possible to export machines and machine lines can be a reasonable option. And that is the whole purpose with EU’s rule system – to keep the trade mobile, says Larry. Sweden needs export, because of this, it is also important that we participate in the standardization work.