Factory safety is an extremely important and quite complex area. Although the 20^th and 21^st centuries have seen huge advances in safety and health at work, factories are still extremely hazardous places and most factories employ full-time safety professionals to ensure that all the necessary precautions are taken to protect their workforce.

To illustrate how employee safety has progressed over the last 100 years, it is interesting to compare the death toll in US mines from 1906-1911 with the number of people killed in all workplaces in 2003:

·        Deaths in US mines, 1906-1911: 13,228

·        Deaths in all US workplaces, 2003: 5,559

 These figures show that while improvements have been made, there is no room for complacency, especially when it is considered that in America, 4.4 million people were injured or became ill as a result of their work in 2003.

There are many and varied rules governing factory safety in the United States today, but the vast majority are directly or indirectly related to the Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1970 (OSHA).

The scope of OSH is far too great to be covered in this article, but we have put together some generic minimum guidelines that apply to almost all factory situations, and serve to illustrate the nature of some Safety & Health rules.

Working Environment

The working environment should be well-ventilated and suitably lit. It should be maintained at an appropriate temperature for work, and systems should be in place to ensure the timely and safe disposal of all waste materials, including dust, fumes and hazardous substances.

Storage and dispensation of raw materials, especially those with hazardous properties, should be carefully-managed and audited.

Workers should have free access to drinking water and restroom facilities, and should be given suitable rest breaks in designated rest areas, ideally segregated from factory work areas.

Tools & Machinery

All tools and machinery should be well-maintained, kept clean and in good functional order. Processes should be in place to report and repair any malfunctioning equipment. Appropriate safety devices should be fitted, such as safety guards, dead man's switches and other such protective measures.

 Where appropriate, mechanical aids should be provided to assist with heavy lifting and other such demanding physical tasks.

Training & Supervision

 Factory workers should always receive all necessary training and supervision when beginning work on new assignments or machinery. This should include guidance on manual-handling, fire safety and first aid where these tasks may be required of the worker.

 Employees should all be apprised of their and their employer's safety responsibilities, and processes should be in place and publicized to ensure that any workplace accidents are recorded and investigated.

Keep It Safe

 Safety regulations can at times seem heavy-handed, inconvenient and overly-bureaucratic, but they have been carefully developed over many decades, usually based on experience and the need to prevent recognized hazards.

 Aside from the legal obligations employers are under to maintain a safe environment, the cost and inconvenience of maintaining a safe factory environment for workers is insignificant when compared to the tragic human cost of failing to do so.