Health and Safety

Human costs:

• employees need good working conditions e.g. safe machinery, avoiding child labour
• social, cultural or religious groups may be offended by the product e.g. a t-shirt slogan

Environmental costs:

• life cycle assessment (LCA) looks at each stage of life of a product

Choice of materials:

• hardwoods - natural rainforests = destroying habitats
• softwoods = greener choice, managed plantations
• metals - have to be minede + extracted from ores
• plastics - made using crude oil = finite resource
• lots of energy + pollution is caused :(

Manufacture:

• uses a lot of energy + other resources
• = pollution
• need to think of waste material + how to dispose

Using the product

• electrical products use electricity generated by burning fossil fuels
• paint gives off toxic fumes

Product Disposal

• often disposed in a landfill
• takes up space + pollutes land + water

Think of the life expectancy of the product, i.e. pens = short = cheap materials, small no of compponents

• reduce - making lon-lasting, durable product (e.g. rechargeable batteries) reduces the number of products customers need to buy, also results in a cut down of energy + transport used by the manufacturers
• reuse - extend a product's life by giving to someone else or using it for something else
• recycle - uses less energy than making it again from scratch
• rethink - think about the best way to design the product before you make it
• repair - better to fix than throw away! manufacturers sell replacement parts - think of make your product with components so this is easier
• refuse - you can refuse buying a product if you think it's wasteful

• wear the right clothes
  • face mask
  • goggles
  • protective gloves
  • apron
  • face shields
  • gauntlets
  • spats
• tuck loose things in, tie, hair, sleeves, apron strings etc.
• avoid tripping hazards + clean up spillages straight away
• remove chuck keys before switching on
• make sure safety guard is in place
• never leave machines unattended on
• appropriate ventilation
• make sure there are no distractions/ no-one will knock you
• be aware, when carrying long pieces of material, of others