Rockwell Automation recently announced the Safety Maturity Index (SMI) tool, a self-guided assessment that gives manufacturers visibility into the effectiveness of their safety programmes and the ability to optimise plant performance. Applicable to any industry, any plant size and any location in the world, the SMI tool helps manufacturers see where they measure in safety culture, compliance and capital. Most importantly, it provides recommendations to help achieve best-in-class safety performance.
The three principal components of a successful safe workplace – culture (behavioural), compliance (procedural) and capital (technical) – are equally critical and interdependent in developing a strong, sustainable safety programme. For example, creating and maintaining a robust safety culture but not investing in safety technologies and/or complying with standards lowers a company’s ability to provide a safe workplace. Likewise, the possibility of risk remains when manufacturers invest in safety technologies but fail to emphasise the importance of safety culture throughout the organisation.
Each safety pillar is measureable in the SMI tool using four categories – SMI 1: minimising investment, SMI 2: attaining compliance, SMI 3: cost avoidance and SMI 4: operational excellence. By answering a series of questions, manufacturers can complete the SMI assessment and determine how they measure in each of the four categories. The report also provides recommendations for improvement, if needed.
“The benefits of optimising safety through the SMI assessment can result in fewer injuries and fines, as well as improved plant productivity, greater efficiencies and enhanced employee morale,” said Christo Buys, business manager for control systems, Rockwell Automation, Sub-Saharan Africa. “Achieving best-in-class safety performance begins with assessing current practices companywide, and now customers can do this on their own.”
Read more...Harnessing AI and satellite imagery to estimate water levels in dams
IT in Manufacturing
Farmers and water managers often struggle to accurately estimate and monitor the available water in dams. To address the challenge, International Water Management Institute researchers have worked with Digital Earth Africa to create an innovation that uses satellite images and AI to get timely and accurate dam volume measurements.
Read more...Why industry should enter the world of operator training simulators Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
System-agnostic operator training simulator (OTS) software is a somewhat unsung hero of industry that trains plant operators in a virtual world that mirrors real-world operations. The benefits are multiple.
Read more...Track busway for scalable data centre power delivery
IT in Manufacturing
The latest generation Legrand Data Centre Track Busway technology addresses the operational pressures facing today’s high-density, AI-intensive computing environments and is being well received by data centre facilities around the world.
Read more...Poor heat management in data centre design
IT in Manufacturing
Designing a world-class data centre goes beyond simply keeping servers on during load shedding; it is about ensuring they run efficiently, reliably, and within the precise environmental conditions they were built and designed for.
Read more...It’s time to fight AI with AI in the battle for cyber resilience
IT in Manufacturing
Cybercrime is evolving rapidly, and the nature of cyber threats has shifted dramatically. Attacks are now increasingly powered by AI, accelerating their speed, scale and sophistication. Cybersecurity needs to become part of business-critical strategy, powered by AI to match attackers’ speed with smarter, faster and more adaptive defences.
Read more...RS South Africa shines spotlight on MRO procurement RS South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
RS South Africa has highlighted the growing pressures faced by procurement professionals responsible for maintenance, repair and operations supplies across the country’s vital economic sectors.
Read more...Sustainable energy management Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Utilising its innovative ONE approach technology, Siemens provides complete transparency on resource consumption and offers data-driven optimisation recommendations for sustainable energy management.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version