The sector with more injuries than any other — where getting the basics right saves limbs and lungs
Manufacturing has the largest total number of injuries of any New Zealand sector, and it's one of WorkSafe's four high-risk priority sectors. The harm comes in two forms: sudden machinery injuries — entanglement, crushing, amputation — and slow harm from toxic dust, fumes and noise. Getting the basics right means proper machine guarding, isolation before maintenance, controlling dust and fumes, and real training.
Manufacturing hurts people in a moment and over a decade, and you have to manage both.
WorkSafe makes manufacturing a priority because its safety performance has stayed poor over the past decade and it records more injuries than any other sector. The fast harm is mechanical: machines apply forces a body can't survive, and a guard left off or a machine not isolated can take a hand in an instant. The slow harm is to health: toxic dusts, fumes, chemicals and noise quietly damage lungs and hearing over years. A good manufacturing safety system tackles both — the dramatic risks and the invisible ones.
Most manufacturing harm clusters around a familiar set of risks.
| Hazard | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Machinery | Entanglement, crushing, cutting, shearing and amputation from unguarded or poorly guarded plant. |
| Isolation gaps | Reaching into machines to clean, clear or maintain them without locking out stored energy. |
| Dust & fumes | Toxic dusts (including wood dust and respirable silica), welding fumes and process emissions. |
| Hazardous substances | Chemicals used or created in processing, plus fire and explosion risk from combustible dust. |
| Noise & vibration | Sustained high noise and vibration causing permanent hearing loss and nerve damage. |
| Manual handling | Lifting, repetitive tasks and awkward postures causing musculoskeletal injury. |
| Forklifts & traffic | Mobile plant moving around people and machinery. |
WorkSafe's message is blunt: making work safer starts with the basics — safe machinery and good training.
Where you can't eliminate the hazard, guard it — with the correct guards that stay in place — and treat the AS/NZS 4024 Safety of Machinery series as your good-practice reference. Before anyone reaches into a machine to clean, clear a blockage or maintain it, isolate it and control its stored energy with a lockout process; an emergency stop is not isolation. Back that with competent, trained operators and supervision. Our plant & machinery safety guide covers the detail.
The injuries that make the news are dramatic, but dust, fumes and noise harm far more people over time.
Toxic dusts and fumes cause chronic, often irreversible lung disease, and respirable crystalline silica and wood dust are particular concerns in food, metal and wood-product manufacturing. Control them at the source with extraction and ventilation first, then respiratory protection, and monitor exposure against the workplace exposure standards. Treat noise the same way — reduce it at the source before relying on hearing protection. These harms are slow, invisible and permanent, which is exactly why they get neglected.
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Manufacturing records the largest total number of injuries of any New Zealand sector, and its safety performance has stayed poor over the past decade, which is why WorkSafe makes it a priority sector. Machinery accidents are a leading cause of harm, alongside chronic harm from dust, fumes and noise.
Eliminate the hazard where you can; where you can't, guard it with the correct guards that stay in place. Before anyone reaches into a machine to clean, clear or maintain it, isolate it and control its stored energy with a lockout process. An emergency stop is an additional control, not isolation.
Toxic dusts and fumes cause chronic, often irreversible lung disease. Respirable crystalline silica and wood dust are particular concerns in food, metal and wood-product manufacturing. Control them at the source with extraction and ventilation first, then respiratory protection, and monitor exposure.
Yes. Sustained high noise causes permanent hearing loss. Reduce noise at the source first — quieter equipment, isolation, maintenance — before relying on hearing protection, and monitor exposure against the workplace exposure standards.
Getting the basics right: properly guarded and maintained machinery, controlling dusts and fumes, and good worker training and supervision. WorkSafe's priority plan focuses on the food product, metal fabrication and wood product subsectors, where most harm occurs.
