_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Safety their day. Things like stress, chemicals, working alone create potential hazards and inhibitors to productivity.
In our survey, 53 percent of manufacturing workers affected by a workplace accident or illness said stress was involved. That is a reminder that operational risk is shaped not only by physical hazards, but also pressure, fatigue, unclear processes, and changing priorities, which lead to elements like stress which increase accidents.
Chemicals are another nonobvious risk with 72 percent saying they handle chemicals at work. Chemical risk cannot sit in its own lane, separate from training, reporting, audits, corrective actions, and incident response. While approximately 70 percent say they can access information through chemical safety digital software, the remaining 30 percent are at risk when they are unaware of the chemicals they are surrounded by.
Lone work is another growing but often overlooked part of the manufacturing workforce. In the data, 35 percent of manufacturing respondents identify as lone workers, and 42 percent of those say they experienced an accident while working alone in 2025. That points to a group easily missed in safety planning, even though response speed and visibility matter more when no one is nearby. The time it takes to respond to lone workers in danger without tools to monitor can mean the difference between going home safe and a catastrophe.
With the increase in risk, a company’ s crisis readiness becomes increasingly crucial.
manufacturing-today. com 29