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There are many ways to obtain the safety information and training you need. Local, state and federal governments, consultants, hiring experienced safety personnel, chambers of commerce, and your insurance company can provide you with the necessary information and training to improve the safety in your finish room.

OSHA has a voluntary inspection program where you invite them to inspect your facility, and they note safety violations, without fines, and you just have to correct the safety violations. Also, insurance companies that have experience insuring operations like yours have experts to inspect facilities and provide safety recommendations. These recommendations are based on their experience insuring manufacturers that use hazardous materials. Recommendations may be made in a three-tiered approach: issues that require immediate attention, issues that should be addressed in the near future, and issues that would provide a safer environment, but are not high risks. OSHA and insurance companies will inspect differently, but together you can get a more complete assessment of areas that need improvement.

Another organization that I want to mention is the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC), www.msscusa.org. It provides training specifically for manufacturers, one of the courses focuses specifically on safety. This course lasts approximately six days and involves online, instructor led and text book training. Students who pass the test receive a certificate for the specific course, and in our case, three hours of college credit was received since the course was offered by Workforce Development Concepts, Inc. through Vincennes University.

Signing up for the course was easy, and the tuition was provided through a grant. Working with Workforce Development Concepts, Inc. (www.wdc-training.com) was great. They did all the work in securing the grant; we just supplied basic information for them to complete the grant. Many manufacturers in southwest Indiana have used this resource to improve their employees’ skills. Check for programs in your area to see if grants are available.

The course covers many aspects of safety and also teaches communication skills, teamwork skills and meeting customer needs. This combination provides a good understanding of the skills needed to improve safety in a manufacturing environment. We were also able to take the classroom skills being learned and apply them during class. Vincennes University Jasper Campus (VUJC) allowed the students to inspect campus buildings and report any issues that could be improved. VUJC then used this information to improve their building safety.

Finish shops usually have similar primary hazards that they must work with safely. These include flammable materials, hazardous waste and respiratory hazards.