When you try to accomplish similar goals, similar solutions often present themselves. If you’re going to be playing a competitive sport, you’ve got to practice if you want to do well. It doesn’t matter if you are playing basketball, hockey, or lacrosse, you are still going to need to do a lot of the same exercises to get in shape and play a great game. Aerobic exercise, strength training, and eye-hand coordination practice are keys to any sport.
FME is similar because the work that you do will always be different but the preparation is mostly the same. One job may be in constructing a wind turbine, while another might be fixing a leaky pipe in a power plant. Regardless of the job, you will quickly notice similar FME challenges. This section is dedicated to presenting the common challenges and providing ways to overcome them.
Common FME applications:
Barrier Creation
Defining the area that will have FOD controls in place is the first step in FME
Cable Tying
Cable ties are cheap and durable, but make sure you have the right ones to prevent loss.
Electronic Asset Tracking
A modern system of tracking materials can save your company time and money.
Flagging Devices
Items that are meant to protect against foreign material may become foreign material themselves if they are left in place. Find out how to prevent this from happening.
Inspection and Retrieval
Preparing to retrieving a lost item will shorten down time and save money. You may even find FOD that was there before the job began.
Tool Lanyards
Prevention is a fundamental of FME. Lanyards are a great way to prevent mistakes and injuries.
Parts Storage
Small debris can be very problematic. Learn how to keep it in control.
Pipe Sealing
Open machinery and piping must be protected to prevent future failures.
Promoting FME
If you don’t know about FME or your workers don’t know about it, then you can’t have an effective FME program.
Tinted Plastics
Now you see it, now you don’t. Make sure you can always see your plastic items no matter where they happen to go by using tinted plastics.
Welding Debris Control
Welding is messy by nature but it can be kept as clean as possible with a few techniques.
Consider these items as a “practice” routine for your FME program and you should see improvements in the overall level of safety and cost savings at your workplace. Much like sports, there’s no guarantee that applying the correct practice will result in a win, but not applying the techniques will almost certainly result in shoddy performance.