How WinTech is Improving Safety and Efficiency with Body- Worn Camera Video
When you put cameras on front line workers – their lives at work get safer and easier
– Connor Kimzey, Environment, Health and Safety Manager
THE MISSION
WinTech is an employee-owned company providing standard and custom products to multiple markets of the construction industry.
WinTech began producing window products in 1991, but has since expanded to manufacture many other products such as PTAC louvers and HVAC access doors and panels. In recent years, WinTech embarked on a growth plan which doubled their Monett, MO facility’s footprint and also acquired an additional manufacturing facility in Cassville, MO.
THE CHALLENGE
As the Environment, Health and Safety Manager at an employee owned company, Connor Kimzey's main concern is ensuring all employees get through each and every day safely and comfortably. Wintech is a place many employees stay for decades, and eventually retire from. Safety is one of Wintech's core values and Connor is focused on ensuring processes, procedures and tools are keeping everyone as safe as possible while remaining highly productive.
THE SOLUTION
WinTech relies on a strong training regimen as the cornerstone of its safety program. With many employees that have served at the company for decades, they also have a strength of experts whose knowledge they wanted to better share with all employees. The solution to democratize much of the existing company knowledge held by long-time employees was to put body-worn cameras on the employees that know all the nuances of safety and have helped EHS build standard operating procedures. Recording and sharing the way they do work provides a great way for new employees to see how top-performing employees operate safely and efficiently.
Implementing Axon Body 3 cameras is providing an easy way to capture footage that is allowing WinTech to improving training practices, and also discover new efficiencies to improve output and reduce fatigue.
IMPROVED TRAINING
WinTech takes training seriously, knowing that well trained employees are safe employees. A common practice at WinTech is identifying best practices as they learn from top- performers and revising SOPs based on new learnings.
The up-close POV of body-worn cameras is providing clarity that is impossible to get any other way, giving WinTech new insights that they were previously unable to gather in order to better understand how to optimize procedures for safety and productivity.
DECREASED RISK
Improving ergonomics to reduce fatigue is a continual focus at WinTech. The lower fatigue levels are, the lower the risk that there will be accidents or injury.
One workflow requires employees that are cutting view ports into HVAC doors to remain in unnatural positions for long stretches of time. It became clear that as the day progressed output slowed tremendously for staff working on HVAC view ports. From an EHS perspective, there was a concern about wearing down the body. Through watching Axon footage, the problem became clear and it was also obvious how to address it by providing a better ergonomic position. The video captured by body cameras was used to justify investing to improve positioning with lift assist equipment and cranes. This puts employees in better ergonomic positions and also increased output.
IMPROVED EFFICIENCY
In addition to improving training, WinTech has been able to leverage the footage from body cameras to identify areas of improvement for increased manufacturing output.
In one instance, a new manufacturing line had been installed in the Cassville facility to increase production. The employees tasked with running that line were trained in the main facility in Monett, which had slightly different equipment. When they transitioned to Cassville to begin production, productivity dropped, even though they were manufacturing the same product through the same process. Through reviewing body-worn camera footage, WinTech discovered that because of the different equipment in the Cassville facility, line workers were having to twist and move more in order to complete their tasks. Because of the first- person view provided by Axon footage, they were able to easily identify the problem and craft a solution that allowed them to improve line production from from 350 units per day to over 750 units per day.
LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS?
The Axon ecosystem for enterprise security offers effective de-escalation strategies, incident transparency, and modern, secure data handling. The ecosystem system for security has three primary solutions:
· Body-Worn Cameras – The new Axon Body Workforce is Axon’s first security camera built specifically for frontline workers. Workforce offers custom color shells to fit your organization’s brand and employee uniforms. Enterprise customers can also leverage technology from Axon’s industry-leading line of law enforcement cameras with the Axon Body 4.
· TASER Energy Weapons – TASER 10 and TASER 7 offer retail security teams a proven option for de-escalating threats as the most effective less lethal option in the history of public safety.
· Axon Evidence – Evidence.com offers a consolidated place to connect and manage your growing stores of data in a single security system – offering powerful case management, bulk actions, access control, and the ability to share your evidence securely.
Interested in learning more about how Axon can improve your operations? Contact the Axon team today.
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