Occupational Safety, Health and Environment
This domain tests hazard identification, safe machine use, ergonomics, fire and electrical safety, and environmental control.
Hazards and controls
Hazards include unguarded belts and pulleys, needle punctures, electricity, noise, dust and lint, chemicals, and repetitive posture. The control hierarchy is elimination or substitution, engineering controls such as guards and ventilation, administrative controls such as training and rotation, and PPE last. Fire safety needs the correct extinguisher, clear exits and unblocked aisles. Chemicals need safety data sheets, labels, gloves, eye protection and ventilation.
Environment
Textile wet processing creates effluent. Reduce, reuse and recycle; treat water; segregate waste; save energy. Report spills.
Worked example
A task has likelihood 4 and severity 4 on a 5 by 5 matrix. Risk score = 4 x 4 = 16, which is high risk. Control: fit a guard and interlock, then train operators, and rescore residual risk. Reasoning: the score combines chance and harm; an engineering control is more reliable than PPE alone.
Traps
Do not treat PPE as the first control. Do not use water on an electrical fire. Do not block fire exits with fabric rolls. Do not ignore ergonomics; tailoring is repetitive work. Do not pour dye waste into drains.