What is the perceived conflict between safety and production?

It is not a conflict but it is a clear issue with an organisation. Productivity and Safety are seen working against each other. The safety first rule affects the productivity of an organisation and conversely maximum production affects the safety and puts the workers at the risk. The perceived conflict between safety and production can be eliminated with the firm determinism of top management. Leadership should be committed to work with safety precautions and should convey this commitment to the lower levels of organisation that working with safety is top priority of the organisation. 

I would say its not a matter of conflict! Its a clear issue with the Top Management.

The management shall make it clear that Health & Safety is an overarching value/ Top Priority and shall convey this down and ensure people believes in such concept. By time the balance will arise by its own.

Thank you for the invitation

Company should balance safety in work environment while producing and meeting up with production targets as this is the only key to sustainability.

Productivity, Quality and Safety are three equally important factors that must be considered in any loss prevention system.

Production rate is very important to business success of the company as it keeps the company on the front line of its competitors but safety while producing should be the important factor to be considered because it guarantees the continuity and sustainability of that produced output over time

This is a very important discussion that should not be taken for granted. There is a huge relationship between safety and production. Most company holders are practically interested in staying ahead of their competitors and making huge turn over, this is often seen in shift from safety of personnel and environment to a more profit oriented goal setting.  The field of safety and reliability are concerned with the study of a particular class of event i.e. accident and failure, and how to implement a proactive approach to prevent this accident from occurring while production focus on the profit margin. I.e. how much is produced per day and the overall company turn over. This two key point i.e. safety and production, is very important for the overall success of the company and should be balance at all point. hazards or risk as regards to safety of personals, equipment or environs   while producing should be reduced as reasonably practice in a work environs by planning, implementing and continuous update of the integrity management program of each production systems. In conclusion, production rate is very essential to the company as it keeps the company on the front line of its competitors but safety while producing should not be undermine because it guarantees the continuity and sustainability of that produced output over time.

The conflict is whenever safety is compromised production suffers Therefore for Production to be grossly sustained safety should not be treated with levity. However when conflict exit between production and safety, the organization context and capability  suffers, which brings about lost in confident, and capital stewardship, of the organization. and increase in cost of production.