Factors Affecting Health and Safety In A Manufacturing Setting

Health and safety in a manufacturing setting have always been challenging. Combine the typical manufacturing cornucopia of moving parts, machinery, and a desire to make products as quickly and cheaply as possible, and you have the recipe for manufacturing mishaps.

Since 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has helped manufacturing become safer, but challenges still exist.

Here are a few health and safety issues that impact just about every manufacturing setting in the USA and abroad.

Inadequate Training

Training in manufacturing has been an issue since the assembly line was invented and probably long before. When you combine moving parts with a desire to make money, as outlined above, training becomes a vital way to avoid safety hazards. Unfortunately, while training programs have improved over the last 40 years, there is still much work to do.

Every company has training to orient new employees on how to do their job, but many companies only emphasize safety training because they are required to do so. Other companies only initiate training when an issue arises, such as an employee injuring themselves on the job.

Apart from formal training, which is vital, on-the-job training is vital, as is employing signs and brochures that emphasize safety procedures. This challenge exists primarily in smaller, less formal companies, but even larger corporations can have lapses.

Safety Supplies and Equipment Problems

If an employee suddenly had a heart attack, would you know where your company stores a defibrillator? As importantly, would you know when and how to use a defibrillator? If an employee suffered a serious head injury or trauma, you or someone on staff would need to know how to stop profuse bleeding or where to get the supplies to help you succeed.

Every company has a first aid kit. However, many are unprepared to stabilize an injured or sick employee suffering beyond simple cuts, abrasions, or sprains. 

The answer is not too many unless a severe injury is always a looming threat. For example, many staff members may be unfamiliar with using a defibrillator if there is one on the premises.

Areas many companies are utterly unprepared to treat include, but are not limited to:

• Blunt force trauma from falls or falling materials, supplies, or equipment
• Heart attacks or stroke
• Severe head injuries from being struck or sustaining a fall
• Trauma involving severe cuts or dismemberment

Lack of Known Standard Operating Procedures in Emergencies

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how ill-prepared most workplaces were for a serious, life-threatening virus. Many manufacturers did not realize the seriousness of the illness and were slow to realize the long-term impact. Some estimates put the number of employee deaths in the USA due to the COVID pandemic at over 300,000.

As bad as that figure is, the environment that led to those deaths shed light on another challenge for the manufacturing sector: The lack of procedures for emergencies. Every company has fire evacuation procedures but may not have processes for accounting for employees after an evacuation. How about during other natural disasters like earthquakes or tornadoes?

In reality, many manufacturing plants are as ill-prepared to handle a large-scale emergency caused by a fire or earthquake as they are ill-prepared to manage a disease outbreak. A recent employee survey showed that over 50 percent of those surveyed did not feel their employer prioritized emergency preparedness.

Disregarding Regulations and Safety Advice

It has been known for a long time that employees tend to disregard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) if given a choice until someone is injured. One study showed that over 80 percent of companies were aware of employees that violated PPE protocols. The most common reasons employees gave were that the rules were unnecessary or impeded work.

The only way to overcome this type of negligence is to have an active safety awareness program and real consequences when employees violate a rule. Employees disregarding PPE rules, however, is just one example.

Many employees ignore basic slip and fall prevention rules. In 2020, over 800 employees died in slips and falls. Over 200,000 injured employees required at least one day off of work. When employees are using proper slip and fall prevention measures, 100 percent of slips and falls are preventable, according to the National Safety Council.

Lack of Hazard Mitigation

Employees in a manufacturing setting experience hazards every day they are at work. Most never amount to anything serious, and with proper safety training and adherence, just about all workplace hazards are avoidable or controllable. That does not mean, however, that a manufacturing setting is a safe environment. Here are a few examples.

Chemical Hazards

Many manufacturing organizations require employees to work with open chemicals that threaten an employee. Some examples include:

• Corrosive substances such as acid
• Carcinogens
• Skin irritants such as chlorine or bleach
• Asthma and respiratory risks from chemical dust

While most companies have procedures for working with these substances, all it takes is one rule to be ignored to create a chemical hazard, if not for the employee working with the chemical, potentially with their co-workers.

Electrical Hazards

In almost every manufacturing plant, exposed wiring on machinery, worn-out cables, misusing equipment, and not following electricity safety procedures create safety hazards. OSHA lists electricity-related infractions as number 6 on its list of most frequent violations, ahead of employees not wearing proper eye protection.

Machinery Hazards

There is a risk of injury whenever you have humans and mechanized moving parts. Employees do not pay attention or do not follow safety procedures. Perhaps a part breaks or machinery is misused. Whatever the cause, machinery poses a significant risk to employees if basic safety and operational rules are not followed.

Risks posed by machinery include, but are not limited to:

• Collisions
• Crushing because of equipment that tips over or falls
• Broken bones
• Concussions
• Trauma

Each of those risks exists if machinery is not respected and used correctly. Even then, management must enforce safety penalties for infractions, or those infractions will increase.

Other Workplace Hazards

Many other hazards exist in even tightly controlled manufacturing settings. Those include:

• Injury to ears and loss of hearing due to excessive noise
• Environmental exposure (high and low temperatures)
• Injury to skin and eyes by lasers
• Repetitive injuries from performing the same motions over and over
• Transportation accidents

Final Thoughts

Undoubtedly, workplace safety in manufacturing has improved vastly over the last 50 years. It is also improving as employers and employees become more aware of the hazards. Still, as this list shows, much work remains to be done.