NDMC 0006 - Manufacturing Safety
Course Description
In today’s manufacturing environment, safety is more than a compliance checklist — it’s a reflection of culture, leadership and operational excellence. This hands-on class equips you with tools and mindsets to proactively prevent hazards, integrate safety into daily work and build systems that drive accountability and continuous improvement.
Led by an experienced manufacturing and Lean leader, this series blends foundational safety knowledge with strategic systems thinking. You will learn how to assess risks, build robust standards and lead cultural change by embedding safety into operations.
Each session includes engaging activities, practical applications and homework designed to bring learning into the real world. The final session culminates in a capstone assignment where you’ll apply a full problem-solving cycle to a safety opportunity in your environment.
Course Outline/Topics
Day 1: Safety Culture, Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment
- Why Safety Matters: Beyond compliance to culture and trust
- Introduction to hazard types (mechanical, ergonomic, chemical, etc.)
- Risk Assessment Tools:
- Risk Matrix (likelihood vs. severity)
- Heat Maps
- Intro to FMEA
- Practice Exercise: Identify hazards and map risk in a work area
- Homework: Conduct a basic hazard identification and risk ranking in your own environment
Day 2: Standard Work & Safety Integration
- Job Safety Analysis (JSA): Purpose and process
- Embedding safety into SOPs, Standard Work and Leader Standard Work
- Link between standardization and incident prevention
- Practice Exercise: JSA workshop on a known process
- Homework: Complete a JSA or update a standard work doc with safety elements
Day 3: Ergonomics & Human Factors
- Ergonomic risk factors: force, posture, repetition, environment
- Tools for ergonomic assessment
- Designing workstations and tasks for humans
- Practice Exercise: Ergonomic evaluation and improvement brainstorming
- Homework: Conduct an ergonomic assessment and identify opportunities
Day 4: Safety Management Systems & Capstone
- Proactive safety tools:
- Near-miss reporting
- Safety tiered huddles/DMS integration
- Visual safety management (signs, floor tape, shadow boards)
- Conducting a Safety Gemba Walk
- Capstone Presentations:
- Participants present a safety challenge they investigated and improved using a structured problem-solving method (DMAIC)
- Capstone Homework (assigned on Day 3)
Benefits and Learning Outcomes
- Understand the critical importance of safety in driving performance, engagement and trust
- Identify and use core safety tools, including hazard identification, risk matrices, JSAs and ergonomic assessments
- Conduct effective risk assessments and job safety analyses
- Integrate safety into standard work and daily management systems
- Apply ergonomic principles to improve safety and reduce injury risk
- Demonstrate safety practices through Gemba walks, visual management and near-miss reporting
- Complete a full DMAIC problem-solving cycle on a safety challenge
Who Should Attend
- Frontline leaders and supervisors responsible for safety and operations
- Manufacturing professionals seeking to integrate safety into daily work
- Safety champions and team members looking to improve safety systems and culture
Partners & Professional Credits
- Professional Development Hours 17.0 PDHs