Industrial Safety
Industrial Safety covers the hazards of a factory or construction site and the hierarchy of controls a guard must know in order to stop unsafe acts.
Hierarchy of controls
Eliminate → Substitute → Engineering controls (machine guarding, ventilation, interlocks) → Administrative controls (permits, training, rotation) → PPE, which is the last line of defence, not the first.
Key permits and procedures
- Permit to work for hot work, work at height, confined space entry and electrical isolation.
- LOTO (lockout/tagout): isolate the energy source, lock it, tag it, and verify zero energy before work begins.
- Confined space: test the atmosphere for oxygen and toxic gas, ventilate, keep a standby man outside, and have a rescue plan.
- Work at height: scaffold with guardrail and toe board, full-body harness anchored above, no work directly above people.
- Electrical: no wet hands, no unauthorised opening of panels, earth leakage protection in use.
- Manual handling: bend the knees, keep the load close to the body, never lift above shoulder height alone.
- Safety sign colours: red = prohibition/fire, yellow = warning, blue = mandatory, green = safe condition or escape route.
- Housekeeping/5S prevents slips, trips, fire load and blocked exits.
- Report near misses as well as accidents; they are free warnings.
Worked example
A welder is working without a face shield near your post, and sparks are falling into a bin of oily rags. Reasoning: there are two unsafe conditions - unprotected eyes and an ignition source next to fuel. The guard's action is to stop the job politely, inform the welder and the supervisor, ask for the bin to be removed, and record the incident. You do not physically grab the welder's arm.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating PPE as the best control rather than the last.
- Not logging a near miss because 'nothing happened'.