Start your relationship with your new manufacturing employee on the right foot, and make a great impression beginning on their first day. You already know that they’ll be doing the same for you; they’ll be bringing their A-game and stepping into the workplace with the best possible attitude and intentions…So make sure you respond in kind. Demonstrate respect for both the new employee and the position they’re about to take over.

Have Their Workspace and Paperwork Prepared

When your employee arrives at the site, make sure your HR team and their supervisors are ready. Don’t leave themstanding idly for an hour while they wait for a formal welcome and sign-in procedure. Make sure HR, payroll, IT, and of course their own manger all know when they will arrive. Ideally, they should be shown to their work area and be ready to start learning and contributing within a just a few minutes.

Provide Trainers with Clear Instructions

Your new employee may need to be paired with mentors, supervisors, or guides who can walk them through the process and provide a tour of the facility in which they’ll be working. These trainers should know exactly who they are, and they should be well prepared for this task. Don’t just pull someone randomly away from his or her workstation and ask this person to take on the task at the last minute. In most workplaces, this is a very important job with a lasting impact on the new employee’s performance and tenure. Make sure your trainers are carefully chosen and ready for this responsibility.

Provide Accommodations Immediately

If the new employee will require specific data access, passwords, specialized tools, or protective gear in the proper size, take care of this right away. Again, don’t leave the employee performing at half-capacity for hours or days while these basic requirements are being taken care of.

Make the Employee Feel Welcome

The team that will be working with your new employee should know about her arrival well in advance. They should already know their name and role and they should be prepared to welcome them warmly. Encourage your team to provide heartfelt greetings and go the extra mile to speed the acclimation process and help the new employee fit in.

Provide Clear Resources

Most new manufacturing employees will have plenty of questions about their tasks and responsibilities within their first few days and weeks on the job. Make sure your new employee knows exactly where to turn when this happens.

For more on how to train and acclimate new workers on your manufacturing team, reach out to the management experts at Lift Temp.

Every working person in the world excels in some areas and struggles in others. While some of us are natural experts at organizing spreadsheets, others demonstrate impressive talent with writing, design, budget management, making sense of complex data, remembering names and faces, or motivating teams. When we’re asked (often in an interview setting) to list and describe our greatest strengths, most of us can answer quickly and accurately.

But the same rule doesn’t usually apply when we’re asked to list and describe our greatest weaknesses. These are the skill sets that we’re not so proud of, the areas in which we seem to struggle up the ladder one painful inch at a time, gaining very little reward for a disproportionate level of study and practice. Most of us don’t think much about these areas, and when these tasks need to be addressed, we’d rather hand the responsibility off to almost anyone else in the room. But if you’ve been living a state of avoidance regarding these sore points, now may be a great time to turn the tables and face them head on. Here are a few moves that can help.

Determine what they are.

Be honest with yourself. As you move through an average working day, which tasks do you dislike the most and which do you hand off whenever you have an opportunity? Which ones would you rather avoid for the rest of your life? Look closely; as a common ego defense mechanism, you may tend to casually undermine and dismiss these tasks in order to convince yourself that they aren’t important. But they are. Pretending otherwise won’t help you grow.

Face the facts.

If you’ve placed “typing” on your list, or “accepting criticism” or “interacting with customers”, it’s time to focus your full attention on this task for at least ten minutes each day. Start by reading a few articles or seeking advice from someone close to you who excels at this task. Turn your attention toward experts, mentors, and potential role models. Watch them work and listen closely to any guidance they have to offer.

Put your lessons into action.

When you’re ready, start taking the things you’ve learned and applying them to real-world situations. If you dread public speaking, now is the time to start volunteering for easy speaking opportunities. If you dread giving negative feedback to your direct reports, start offering gentle corrections and constructive criticism.

Set goals.

Determine how far you’d like to take your skill set within one calendar year. When it comes to this area of knowledge or skill, where will you be and what will you be doing this time next summer? Break your larger goal down into smaller goals that you can reach each month, and then each week.

For more on how to tackle and overcome your skill deficits, consult the career management professionals at Lift Temp.

At the beginning of a shift, or just prior to use, forklift operators should take a few minutes to carefully inspect the lift truck they’re about to control. These inspections should happen every single day, regardless of how often the lifting equipment is used of the results of previous inspections. Careful inspection saves lives, prevents injury, and protects equipment and inventory from expensive damage.

As these checks are conducted, users and operators should hold an actual physical list of each inspection item, and should check each item off as they move down the list from top to bottom. Relying on mental lists and checks won’t be enough, no matter experienced operators may be or how familiar they are with their equipment. Every pre-flight check should involve two distinct elements: a visual pre-check and an operational pre-check.

Visual Pre-Check

Here are some of the items that should be included in the visual examination of lifting equipment prior to use:

• Is the lift truck clean and in generally good condition?
• Are floor and overhead areas free and clear of obstructions and conditions that could cause an accident?
• Is there an accessible fire extinguisher in the lift truck that’s charged and functional?

For LPG, gas, and diesel forklifts: Check engine oil levels, check radiator fluid levels, and check fuel levels.

For battery powered forklifts: Check battery for full charge, check plug connections for tightness, wear, and dirt, check for exposed wires, make sure vent caps are unclogged, brackets are secure, and electrolyte levels are adequate.

Make sure all guards, chains, and hydraulic hose reels are tight, secure, present and in good repair.

Check wheels and tires for damage, wear, and proper air pressure.

Make sure forks and anchor pins are straight, unbent and unworn, not cracked and not chipped.

Check hoses to make sure they’re securely fastened, unbent and unworn.

Check seatbelts and overhead guard for damage and flaws.

Test horn for functional and volume.

Pre-Operations Check

These items should be tested and checked before an operator takes control of a lift truck.

• Test all brakes, including the foot brake, the parking brake, and the deadman seat brake that stops the vehicle when the operator stands up.
• Check the clutch and gearshift for smooth transitions.
• Check lift and tilt mechanisms for smooth operation.
• Check all lights including headlights and traffic signals.
• Listen for unusual sounds and check for fluid leaks.

For more on how to properly inspect and maintain lift truck fleets and other lifting equipment, reach out to the materials handling experts at Lift Temp.

When most people talk about workplace safety and workplace hazards, they’re referring to environmental, structural, and traffic issues. These might include an absent safety railing on a high ledge, perilously hot ambient temperatures, inadequate noise protection, or poorly maintained machinery. With proper training, most managers and HR pros recognize a standard workplace hazard when they see one (or feel or hear it).

But there’s one workplace problem that doesn’t get as much attention, and is just as likely to cause an accident or injury: distraction. As the saying goes, distracted drivers are as dangerous as inebriated drivers, and the same rule applies to workers. What are you doing to protect your employees from this often preventable hazard? Keep these tips in mind.

Solicit feedback from your teams.

The best way to find out more about the dangers faced by your workers is to simply ask them. Encourage honesty by distributing anonymous surveys and/or maintaining an open door policy so employees can report any problem at any time without fear of judgement or criticism. If any employee in your workplace identifies a potentially dangerous distraction—anything from an overly-bright light fixture to a constantly running TV screen—reward the employee for bringing it to your attention.

Pay close attention to teams who rely on concentration and focus.

If some of your employees are operating potentially dangerous, high speed, or precision machinery, keep a close eye on these employees especially. Enforce regular break periods and rest periods. Deliberately remove anything from the ambient environment that may break their concentration even momentarily. Consider every form of visual and auditory stimulation that comes their way; even a bad smell can derail focus for a crucial second. Reduce these problems at the source.

Coworkers can be the biggest distraction of all.

If your employees work in teams or partner pairs, make sure these pairs are stable and functional. If they aren’t, separate mismatches quickly and rotate pairings on a regular basis. Don’t allow coworkers to threaten each other’s safety, even with well-intended but poorly timed conversation. Provide privacy barriers and sound barriers for work stations that benefit from structural boundaries.

Take all complaints seriously.

Some workers are distracted by sounds and intrusions that don’t bother others. But if an employee complains about a squeaking fan, or flapping tarp, a chatty coworker, a divided responsibility, or an occasional blast of cold air across his or her workstation, don’t dismiss the concern. Address the problem in any way you can; Either eliminate the distraction or shift the employee to another area where the distraction won’t cause an accident.

For more on how to keep your workers safe from all hazards, including innocent distractions, contact the staffing and management experts at Lift Temp.