5s is one of the most fundamental building blocks of in a lean process. However, many people often implement it poorly or misinterpret it and that why it ends up giving the results that they didn’t expect to have.

Many manufacturing facilities opt to follow the path towards a “5S” or a visual workplace organizational and housekeeping methodology as part of a process of continuous improvement or of ensuring lean manufacturing. The term refers to five steps – sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain – that are also sometimes known as the five pillars of a visual workplace.

Lean is defined as a system “that creates a physical and social environment where problems are quickly identified.” That environment starts with standards that are simple, easy to understand and visual, and right in front of the people who need to see them to do their work.

One of the "root causes" of workplace injuries, illnesses, and incidents is the failure to identify or recognize hazards that are present, or that could have been anticipated. A critical element of any effective safety and health program is a proactive, ongoing process to identify and assess such hazards.

There are many different types of locking systems. There are many types of potentially hazardous energy including, electrical, thermal, chemical, pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical and gravitational energy. All such forms of energy must be locked out, blocked or released to ensure that machinery or equipment does not turn on or move during installation, repair or maintenance.

Automated and high-speed manufacturing operations have upped the ante in product labeling. Best practices in label quality are now often just as important as best practices in part production and quality. On an automated production line, a perfectly good part with the wrong label can be mean serious trouble. As odd as it may sound, there are times when the product’s label can be as valuable as the products itself.

Workplace safety is a top priority for industrial manufacturers. One of the best ways to promote manufacturing plant safety is task-based machine risk assessment. A task-based risk assessment is a proven, methodical tool to identify, assess, and document the hazards of operating machinery.

Safety professionals are tasked with maintaining a safe workplace for employees. They must be able to assess risk in the workplace and develop and implement proactive measures that help prevent injuries and illnesses from happening in the first place. They must also be able to track, investigate, and manage safety incidents to identify ways to prevent future occurrences. Lastly, Safety managers need a single system of record to be able to track and analyze data and generate reports.

Construction sites have a number of safety issues that arise from the very nature of the occupations that pervade on them. There are a number of hazards that are worth mentioning that are particular to construction sites.