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Manufacturing workers ranked supply chain disruption, serious workplace injury or medical emergency, fire or evacuationrelated incidents, and cyberattacks among the greatest threats to operations and their safety. Yet only 35 percent say their company has a crisis plan and that they understand it well.
Visibility matters
Many manufacturers are not starting from scratch. Over three-quarters say employers assess their physical workplace hazards, and 71 percent say they educate employees about workplace incidents or near misses that require reporting. But strong foundations are not the same as full visibility. While 79 percent of manufacturing workers believe their workplace is safe, 55 percent have been affected by a workplace accident or illness.
That gap matters. It suggests manufacturers cannot rely on confidence alone, and need better visibility into what is being reported, what is recurring, where action is outstanding, and where risk is building before it turns into disruption.
That also means moving beyond siloed thinking. Incident data, training, chemical information, lone-worker signals, and corrective actions can and should inform each other. That is how manufacturers navigate the growing risk landscape, moving from compliance to connected visibility and a higher ability to predict when and where a problem may occur, potentially avoiding the event.
Digital tools should reduce friction, not add it
Digital support becomes critical here. Eighty percent of manufacturing workers say they would feel safer if their company used more digital safety software. Workers are not asking for complexity. They are asking for tools that make safe action easier.
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