ZERO DEFFECT , SAFETY CLASS?

Feb, 10,2016

Zero Defects and COP

Zero defects was a strategy in the manufacturing industry that was popular from 1964 to the early 1970’s. It was also used as a performance goal in the automotive industry in the 1990’s. Zero defects was aimed at a reduction of defects through prevention. The focus was on preventing mistakes. Its inception stems from the idea that the worker commonly holds, that they do not need to worry about the mistakes that they make because somewhere down the line, another employee will catch them before they are released to the customer or end user. The philosophy of zero defects says that this is not actually true. A lot of people seem to feel that zero defects is not a viable concept and that it can never be achieved. Philip Crosby, the gentleman who came up with the concept of zero defects, however, states that it is something that can be achieved but that people must first understand it.

Zero defects seeks to reverse the attitude of the workers so that they no longer feel that they can make mistakes carelessly. Crosby states that zero defects is, in large part, about the amount of pride that the employee takes in doing his or her job to the best of their ability. It is about taking pride in the finished product and what the worker has contributed to it. It is a form of reconditioning the worker’s thoughts.

Zero defects can be used for safety management quite easily. You simply ask the employee to take as much pride in their safety as they do in their job. To do this, the goal should be set at having no injuries or lost time due to accidents or incidents that occur on the job. Of course, this might not be an attainable goal. However, the fact is that if the employees are focusing on doing their jobs so carefully because they want to be perfect, then they will surely have less accidents and incidents occur than they would have if they were not following the zero defects principle.

Conformity of Production, or COP is a related concept. What COP means is that the company or employee shows the ability to produce a series of products that match the specifications, performance and marketing requirements that are outlined in the documentation. Suitable arrangements must be made to ensure that each one of these products meets the COP goals.

COP can help with safety because of the fact that it involves conformity to the required specifications. Like the word “conformity” in the name suggests, there is a certain way that everything must be done. A greater level of safety can be attained with this principle because the employee must do things a certain way. If everyone is doing things in a certain way, or conforming to the requirements, there can be little or no possibility of injury. Accidents and injuries occur most often when people are trying to do things differently than they have been taught in order to try to take shortcuts. If they are all doing things the same way, then other than environmental concerns, there is little left for the worker to be injured.