Industrial Workplace Safety Design

The design of the workplace should consider safety from the beginning. There are several key areas where good design makes all the difference to health and safety in the workplace, such as:

• Lighting. Good lighting prevents accidents. It also helps prevent eye strain. Employees should be able to see clearly when conducting tasks
• Ventilation. Ventilation systems should remove contaminants from the air. This can help reduce the risk of staff getting sick
• Temperature. In a factory, the temperature should be comfortable for employees, without extremes of hot or cold that make work unpleasant or even dangerous
• Noise. Industrial facilities may rely on noisy machinery, but noise that affects employees should stay at a minimum wherever possible. Workers in noisy areas should also be provided with suitable ear protection
• Cutting the risk of slips, trips, and falls. Workplace design should ensure cables are not left exposed, presenting a trip hazard
• Layouts. Industrial facilities should be designed so that layouts minimise health and safety risks. For example, there shouldn’t be overcrowding on walkways
• Fire safety. Workplace design should always include clear emergency exit routes in the event of fire. Fire safety equipment like fire extinguishers should be included in areas where there is a risk of a potential fire and must be used by qualified personnel only

Get under the surface of health and safety with the help of RS with this video.

Ergonomics help minimise the risk of injury in the workplace. For example, lifting heavy objects is a major cause of workplace injury and ill health. Strains and sprains often result from lifting loads wrongly. When employees use ergonomic principles to lift objects safely, they are less likely to suffer back injuries.

Ergonomics and safety are closely interlinked. Ergonomics optimises safety, comfort, and productivity by reducing the physical strain on employees. It means designing the workplace, tools, and equipment to suit workers. Employers can design a workspace and provide equipment that creates a better health and safety culture and reduces the risk of injuries and fatigue. Designing ergonomically means putting the welfare of employees first and designing the workspace to fit the worker, not the other way around. It can even mean something as simple as mandating that employees take regular breaks or do stretching exercises. 

Human factors are elements of individual or organisational working practices or the demands put on a person or persons, that can adversely influence health and safety in the workplace. For example, repeatedly asking someone to lift a load that is too heavy for them fails to consider their personal capabilities and safety since it risks injury. Equally, the mental demands of a task may be too much for one person, but another employee may be able to conduct the same task without a problem. Human factors consider what an individual is asked to do, their capabilities and attributes, and the working environment as a whole. Similar to ergonomics, it focuses on fitting the task to the employee in a way that optimises productivity, well-being, and safety. 

Safety engineering is the process of designing a workplace so that it is safe. This is vital for preventing accidents in industrial environments where machinery, chemicals, or other factors present risks to workers. Safety risks should be identified at an industrial facility and ‘designed out’ as far as possible.

It’s important to start engineering for safety early on in the design process. Workplace design should consider how people will interface and interact with machinery, each other, and the environment. Does machinery require machine guarding or other safety measures? Can a piece of less hazardous equipment be used to perform a particular task just as well? If a hazardous process must be used, can it be enclosed to prevent exposure to employees? What are the temperature, lighting, noise, and atmospheric requirements needed to keep a facility safe? Are there systems in place in the event of a fire? How about backup power and water supplies for safety-critical equipment in the event of a loss of power? These are the types of questions posed by health and safety engineering specialists. 

Workplace design should include clear, visible, and easily understood safety signage. Health and safety signage highlights the correct procedures in the event of an emergency and draws attention to hazards and risks. Safety signage helps prevent accidents, injuries, and worse. Safety signage should be approved by authorities in the UK and compliant with international standards.