Lawrence.com

Ensuring full compliance in your manufacturing unit is essential if you want to make sure you meet expected operational standards. Non-compliance affects your ability to remain in business and continue serving customers. It is vital to know the compliance protocols relating to your industry and to keep on top of any changes so you can quickly inform employees.

Main areas of compliance in manufacturing

Regulatory compliance means following international, federal and state laws relevant to your operations. The specific requirements can vary, depending upon your industry and type of business.

Areas of compliance in manufacturing include: product safety, health and safety, employment law, IT safety and security, data protection, anti-corruption, fair competition, and export controls.

If you need help with compliance issues like health and safety, finding attorneys near me to get some advice can be invaluable. USAttorneys has personal injury lawyers with years of experience in dealing with compliance issues.

Why is manufacturing compliance important?

Manufacturing compliance helps to protect your employees, customers, and any stakeholders as it enables your company to operate in a safe manner. Non-compliance results in business, financial, legal and reputational risks.

If you have to put your business on pause to correct compliance gaps, you lose revenue. A compliance breach can slow down production or result in an order being canceled. You can open yourself up to unwanted legal action if your company is non-compliant. Compliance breaches can also damage your reputation and you may lose the trust of investors, employees and customers.

Main benefits of compliance

Ensuring quality products, a safe environment for employees and proper procedures for dealing with customers reduces the risks for your company. Organizational communication will improve when upper management can communicate compliance issues with employees and vice versa. Employees can do their jobs better when they know the proper procedures and protocols. Financial costs will be less as you will have fewer legal fees and fines that come inevitably come with non-compliance. The company reputation will be a positive one that instills trust in all stakeholder groups.

Improving compliance or setting it up from scratch

The first step is to fully understand the legal and industry regulations you need to follow. You will need to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) if you don’t have one to oversee your organizational compliance efforts.

Compliance involves a continuous process of keeping up with changing laws, identifying areas that impact your company, changing policies, implementing changes, and monitoring.

Set compliance goals

Putting a compliance team in place means they can start setting goals and creating the necessary internal documents – a code of conduct, procedure outlines and policies etc., to help a compliance plan function. You may have to hire experts or involve consultants to ensure actions and procedures are compliant.

Complete a risk assessment

Completing a risk assessment will help you to understand where you have gaps in compliance in your manufacturing unit. Once you know the risks, you can take action to address any vulnerable areas so you comply with the relevant agencies.

Provide compliance training

Providing manufacturing compliance training for your employees is crucial. Regular annual training is important so employees keep up to date with current standards. All procedures should be documented and readily available, both physically and digitally, so employees can refer to them when necessary.

Integrate compliance into your workplace culture

Employees are an essential part of doing compliance work in your company. This is why it is so important to integrate compliance into the workplace culture. This is crucial to the success of any compliance plan. Implementing a reward system for employees who comply can help.