The typical production manager today is safety-conscious, but you may run into one who is not. This person may have a great track record for productivity, due to a combination of sheer luck and the ability to shift blame.

Something that’s emerged from analysis of thousands of injury and death incidents is there wasn’t just one safety violation that led to the incident. Most of the time, there were several. This might lead you to believe there is some magical “get away with it” number of safety violations you can commit before someone is hurt or killed. Some people operate this way, and tend to push the boundaries. By the way, that conclusion is what we call a “non sequitur;” it doesn’t follow from the facts.

Suppose you want to take the time to mechanically block the 60-ton press in addition to locking out its motor. The production manager assumes if you do one or the other, you’re good. Odds are you could do neither and complete the work under that press without injury this time — or even the next. But mistakes happen. Suppose an operator misunderstands something that was relayed “telephone-game” style, such as “Don’t start that press” instead of “Start that press.”

Suppose you simply lock out the press motor. Now the hydraulic motor won’t run; therefore, the press ram won’t move — except the seals are worn, pressure leaks back out of the lines, and down creeps that heavy ram with you under it. You need to identify all the dangers and protect against them — not just pick one from a list.

Time is often at a premium in a manufacturing facility, most notably when a critical line is down. All production managers want to make their numbers, but very few will tell you to skip safety steps just so they can make their numbers. Some, however, focus on those numbers, and ignore the risk to people.

Communicating the risk is the key, if you find yourself in that situation. If you merely argue that you must follow the procedure, the risk-ignoring manager is going to see the procedure as the problem. The risk is the problem, so focus on that.

If you say you need to go back to the shop for a tool because otherwise you might get your fingers pinched, this manager might tell you to just be careful. Your reply should be that the only way to be careful is to eliminate the risk, and that’s what you are doing.

You can also quantify the risk in production terms. “So if I don’t take five minutes to put blocks under that press ram, how many days do you think the press will be down if I’m killed under it?”

Whatever transpires, don’t let this person bully, intimidate, or persuade you to take even a single safety shortcut. Three years from now, it’s unlikely you will be working together. But if you lose a finger or eye today, it will be gone forever. In addition, that person isn’t likely to have a long career in manufacturing with that attitude. You, however, have a valuable skill set that other production managers will appreciate many times over.