Frontiers June 2014 39 that caused missed time from work decreased more than 80 percent across the company by year-end. Employees are driving workplace safety improvements at many sites: || A Boeing Aerostructures Australia team assembling parts for the 787 Dreamliner reduced its ergonomic injuries 75 percent by collaborating with tooling engineers to design a better jig that holds the aircraft parts. || When a High Hazard Assessment identified fall protection enhancements on the C-17 Globemaster III assembly line in Long Beach, Calif., engineers, mechanics and safety experts worked together on the design of portable telescoping guardrails that reduce risk and improve safety. || Teams in El Paso, Texas, are working long-term proactive safety programs that have helped the site substantially reduce lost workday injuries in the past two years. Safety leaders say it’s a significant achievement at a site where manual electronics assembly can present a risk of ergonomics injuries. || To enhance overall workplace safety, the Distribution Center in Mesa, Ariz., requires employees to wear high-visibility vests and safety shoes. Visitors also must wear vests and add safety shoes if they handle material. || In Seattle, Boeing Test & Evaluation brought together mechanics and engineers working on a B1-B bomber project to reduce injury risk and design safer work processes upfront. || At the Commercial Airplanes factory in Frederickson, Wash., a Skin and Spar employee safety team conducts “listening tours” among shop-floor workers to seek input on safety issues and keep the safety dialogue active. Boeing Test & Evaluation has established a special process that uses an “andon stop,” which has its origins in Lean manufacturing, for employees who have a safety concern to stop a work process or activity. A stopped work process will not continue until the safety issue is addressed, O’Donoghue said. Managers are expected to lead their teams through the discussion of what caused the andon stop. “Leaders need to create the environment where people feel safe to stand up and raise a safety issue,” O’Donoghue said. “It’s OK to stop the train and address a concern.” Lost-work-time injuries at Boeing Test & Evaluation dropped 46 percent in 2013. The accelerated pace of safety improvements has continued in 2014. New safety standards implemented in 2014 establish companywide requirements for wearing safety glasses and high-visibility vests. They also reduce distractions caused by use of personal devices such as smartphones and digital music players. The key to creating real and permanent change is for each employee to make safety a personal value “that drives our attitudes and behavior every day,” said Eric Lindblad, 747 program vice president. “Safety is not somebody else’s job. If we see something unsafe, we need to feel empowered to fix it.” A lasting and robust safety culture is built upon the many small, personal choices employees make every day, said Atsuo Miyake, safety leader for Environment, Health & Safety. “Have I made the changes I can control? Do I use a handrail? Am I more careful with ladders at home? Do I point out to somebody to stay in a crosswalk?’ ” he said. And taking the time and caring enough to point out a safety concern is important to Hopp, the 747 Body Structures mechanic. “Each of us has a role in creating a safer workplace,” Hopp said. “My teammates are watching out for my safety, and I’m doing the same thing for them.” n patrick.a.summers@boeing.com PHOTOS: (Far left, from top) Aiden Pears, left, and Ryland Robinson build 787 Dreamliner components at Boeing Aerostructures Australia, where smart tooling design helped reduce ergonomics injuries by 75 percent. ANDREW HENSHAW Telescoping guardrails are enhancing workplace safety at the C-17 Globemaster III factory in Long Beach, Calif., where Don Livingston Jr., left, and Paul Manley monitor the wing build process. PAUL PINNER/BOEING (Above) Boeing Fabrication’s Bobby McDonald (from left), Melanie Faulkner, Tony Hamilton and Jennifer Cameron are part of a team that conducts “listening tours” among shop-floor workers at the Frederickson and Auburn, Wash., factories to gather direct input on safety issues. MARIAN LOCKHART/BOEING “The bottom line is, we don’t want our employees getting injured.” — Shelley Lavender, president of Boeing Military Aircraft
Frontiers June 2014 Issue
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