Risk in Active Manufacturing Plants: A Practical Multi-Hazard Approach
Keywords:
Risk Analysis, Manufacturing Safety, FMEA, Fault Tree Analysis, Industrial Hazards, Production Risk, Predictive Maintenance.Abstract
Manufacturing plants are complex environments where ongoing production exposes workers, equipment, and nearby communities to various types of risks. This study analyzes these risks during active production and presents a structured approach for identifying and evaluating them. A combination of established methods, including Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Bow-Tie analysis, was used to assess hazards across mechanical, chemical, electrical, ergonomic, and environmental domains. Data were collected from five large-scale manufacturing facilities in India, covering automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, and electronics sectors. The analysis identified a total of 1,697 hazards, with mechanical hazards (28.4%), chemical exposure (22.1%), and process-related deviations (19.7%) emerging as the dominant risk categories, together accounting for over 70% of the total identified risks. The study further shows that the implementation of proactive strategies such as real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and anomaly detection can lead to a significant reduction in overall risk levels (approximately 40–45%), while also enabling early detection of near-miss events with prediction rates of around 85–90%. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of combining traditional risk assessment methods with modern data-driven approaches, along with strong safety practices, to improve risk management and ensure safer manufacturing operations.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Vikas Jadhav, Vaishnavi Bagal (Author)
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