Continuously Improve for Safety Excellence
Every process is created to achieve a desired result. For instance, if the goal is to produce a shiny red car, one process might be to make sure lug nuts are properly tightened so the wheels won't come loose as the car drives off the assembly line. Continuous improvement is about optimizing the process to better accomplish desired results. To build on our previous example, we could add to our process by torque-checking the lug nuts, marking checked parts, using a checklist for acceptance sign-offs, verifying checking and metrics for assurance and much more. Not surprisingly, companies that continuously improve production processes on an automotive assembly line can expect quality cars as a result. Progressive, successful companies understand all aspects of business should be built upon processes that can be continuously improved. This is precisely why progressive companies implement holistic, integrated systems to manage environment, health and safety systems, just like they would for any other aspects of the overall business. In this way, EHS benefits from continuously-improved, world-class quality results.
Course Outline
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1. Introduction
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2. Define Continuous Improvement
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3. Benefits
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4. Workflow
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5. Lagging and Leading Indicators
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6. Continuous Improvement in Action
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7. Quality Management
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8. Summary
Learning Objectives
- Know what continuous improvement is.
- Recognize the direct and indirect benefits of continuous improvement for occupational health and safety.
- Know what the continuous improvement workflow looks like.
- Recall the differences and advantages of lagging and leading indicators.
- Recognize how quality management tools can improve occupational health and safety performance.
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