The manufacturing industry has changed significantly in recent years with organizations of all sizes adapting to new technologies and evolving supply chains. These factors alone can contribute to high turnover rates as core processes change and existing workers adjust their career paths. Considering that 50% of the U.S. manufacturing workforce is aged 45 or older, organizations are faced with an impending shortage of skilled workers with data suggesting there could be as many as 2.1 million unfilled positions in the manufacturing industry by 2030.

This is why manufacturing businesses across the U.S. must reassess their onboarding processes to better address modern requirements. As part of this process, it’s vital that learning and development (L&D) leaders reevaluate safety and security procedures to protect new staff.

This article will evaluate key insights to help L&D teams identify and address key areas for improvement in their onboarding plan and ensure safety for new and potentially inexperienced manufacturers.

The Importance of Onboarding in Manufacturing

Creating a structured onboarding program is essential in the manufacturing industry. Learning leaders must ensure new hires learn both the critical skills required to perform their roles and the consequences associated with irresponsible behaviors (e.g., damage to valuable assets, harmful accidents and injuries, and security risks).

When it comes to onboarding, leaders must ensure new hires receive appropriate training in both the industry as well as role-specific safety topics. This training must be conducted prior to the new hire’s start date and conducted in line with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state compliance rules.

Basic safety courses.

Basic safety courses are intended to cover core topics that concern all elements of modern manufacturing processes. Common safety courses can include:

• Slips, trips and falls: Falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in the workplace. Slip, trip and fall training must include a review of all potential hazards (including slick surfaces, uncovered cables, stairs and similar obstacles) as well as actionable solutions to mitigate risks via equipment.
• Situational awareness: Covering methods to identify, process, comprehend and respond to potentially dangerous and/or high-stress situations, including how to raise concerns, report on-site hazards and evaluate the safety of manufacturing processes.
• Lockout/tagout: This includes repeatable procedures regarding the adoption and implementation of site-specific best practices when shutting down equipment for maintenance/servicing to prevent hazards related to unintentionally active machinery.
• Personal protective equipment (PPE): This training should include clear instructions regarding the safe use of PPE for specific tasks, including when it should be worn, what to do with used PPE and how to assess when PPE must be worn.
• Emergency action plans: Ensure workers comprehend and know how to access written documents detailing safe responses to emergency situations, including how to report emergencies, plan for evacuation and shelter-in-place and contact emergency services.

Role-specific safety courses.

Onboarding should also ensure new employees receive safety training related to their specific roles. Tailored training must be provided to cover the following areas, for example:

• Welders:
  • Welder electrical safety training.
  • Welding, cutting and brazing training.
  • Arc welding safety training.
  • Gas and cylinder safety.
  • Oxy acetylene cutting safety.

• Heavy equipment operators:
  • Specialized training regarding the safe operation of specific equipment like forklift certification and heavy equipment operator training.

• Production line workers:
  • Forklift safety and inspector training.
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • Operator certification.
  • OSHA safety certificate.

• Shop floor workers:
  • Combustible dust awareness training.
  • Asbestos awareness training.
  • Hazardous waste operations training.
  • Back injury prevention training.
  • Finger, hand and wrist injury training.
  • Work area safety awareness training.

Manufacturing facilities and production lines can be dangerous environments for workers without clearly defined safety procedures. Data from the National Safety Council reveals the manufacturing industry suffered one of the highest number of preventable fatal work injuries of any industry sector throughout 2021.

A well-structured onboarding can protect new hires and your organization from avoidable workplace accidents and should be designed with the mindset to continually improve the program as learning needs change.

Understanding the Value of Transferred Knowledge

One of the more common reasons onboarding programs fail is a lack of standardized documentation outlining key processes. With many skilled manufacturing workers reaching retirement age, businesses are at risk of losing some degree of organizational knowledge.

It’s not uncommon for maintenance processes and general operating procedures to naturally develop over time. In the manufacturing industry, as employees transition to more senior positions during their careers, core processes might be fine-tuned though never formally documented.

As the manufacturing industry prepares to onboard larger numbers of younger workers to fill positions previously held by older skilled workers, L&D leaders must make the effort to document current processes to develop safer onboarding programs.

Summary

Creating a well-organized and detailed onboarding program has always been central to the safe and effective operation of manufacturing facilities. But with the industry preparing for a significant uptick in hiring, reviewing onboarding plans is becoming increasingly vital.

For L&D teams to ensure the safety and security of manufacturing facilities, onboarding plans must begin before new hires’ start dates, contain standardized training materials, clear goals and room for feedback, as well as promote continuous training. Supporting these efforts with well-implemented security systems can help teams to create safer onboarding environments.