Workshop Health, Safety and Quality Control

Safe work, and work done right

An engineering workshop has two demands that a good worker meets at once: work safely, and make work that meets the standard. Machines have fast-moving parts, cutting produces sharp waste chips called swarf, and materials can be heavy or hot, so safety is planned rather than left to chance. At the same time the finished parts have to be right, which is what quality means: the work meets the standard set by the specification. Quality is checked by inspection, and it is protected in two ways: quality control catches faults in the finished work, and quality assurance builds good methods into the process so faults do not happen. This module covers the main workshop hazards and their controls, and what quality means, how it is checked, and why preventing faults matters.

Safety and quality words

Learn these terms before the hazards and checks are matched up. They name the dangers and the ways work is kept to standard.

Match each machine hazard to its control

Quality control against quality assurance

Both keep the work to standard, but they act at different points, and knowing the difference is often examined.

What passes a quality check?

In a quality check, what does it mean for a part to pass?

• It meets the standard set by the specification
• It was made quickly
• It looks shiny
• It was cheap to make

Get it right, not just fast

In a workshop the temptation is to work fast, but speed is worth nothing if the parts do not meet the standard. A part that fails a quality check is waste: the time, material and effort are lost, and it may have to be made again. So quality is not an extra tacked on at the end; it is built in. Work to the specification, check as you go, and inspect the finished part before it leaves the bench. This is the difference between quality assurance, which prevents faults during the work, and quality control, which catches them at the end. The best workshops lean on assurance, because a fault prevented costs nothing while a fault found has already used up the material. Right first time beats fast every time.

Pick the engineering safety measures

Select every action that keeps a worker safe in an engineering workshop.

• Keep the machine guard in place
• Wear eye protection
• Tie back loose hair
• Remove the guard to see better
• Reach into a running machine

Order how to inspect a finished part

Put the steps of inspecting a finished part in order.

• Read the specification to find the required standard
• Measure or check the part
• Compare the result with what the standard requires
• Decide whether the part passes or is a defect
• Record the result and set aside any defects

Complete the safety and quality facts

A barrier that keeps hands away from moving machine parts is a machine _____. The sharp waste chips from cutting metal are _____. Checking finished work against the standard is quality _____. A fault that makes a part fail the standard is a _____.

Count the parts that pass

In a quality check, a batch of 20 parts is inspected and 3 of them are found to be defective. Work out how many parts pass the check by taking the defective ones away from the batch.

A pit crew changing a wheel

Watch a motor-racing pit crew. They move fast, but nothing is careless. Every person is shielded from the spinning parts, everyone wears protection, and the instant the wheel is on, someone checks it is secure before the car is waved away. Speed and safety and checking all happen together, because a loose wheel is a disaster and a hurt crew member is worse. An engineering workshop works to the same idea. Doing a job quickly is fine, but only when the machine is used safely and the finished work is checked before it moves on. Fast is only worth anything when it is also safe, and when the work is right.

Tap the two quality-control actions

Tap the TWO actions that are part of quality control.

• inspecting a finished part against the specification
• measuring a part to check it meets the standard
• removing a machine guard to work faster
• throwing offcuts on the floor

Sort each workshop situation

Read each situation and choose the best answer.

• A guard on a machine makes it slightly slower to load. What should you do?
• A finished part does not meet the specification. What is it, and what should happen?
• A workshop wants far fewer faulty parts. Which approach prevents faults best?

Build a safety and quality sentence

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about safety and quality.

Explain safety and quality in the workshop

A friend starting in an engineering workshop thinks safety slows the work down and quality checking is a waste of time. Using what you have learned, explain why both matter.

• Explain two engineering workshop hazards and how they are controlled
• Explain the role of machine guards and protective equipment
• Explain what quality means and why it matters
• Explain the difference between quality control and quality assurance
• Explain why preventing defects saves time and material