As the textile rental industry is recovering from the pandemic and workforce shortages, it has experienced considerable changes over the past few years. The changing business environment has induced the industry to remodel their business operations and become more dependent on both
automation and the necessity of doing more with fewer people. 

It also meant that the industry had to update and evaluate existing safety systems. In other words, are current safety systems effective in this new environment? According to experts in that field, organisations need to adopt a systematic and proactive approach to managing safety risks to remain successful. Risk management activities need to be at the heart of that ‘system safety’, including the identification of safety hazards, risk assessments, and risk mitigation and prevention. 
 
Since the industry is increasingly faced with the effects of a reduced workforce, it needs to change its traditional approach of merely processing clean textiles and delivering them to customers. Operations nowadays will have to consider the safety of employees as equally important. Automation may be helpful in this field, but it also presents risks that require preparation, prevention, protection and response – as it happens the four pillars of system safety!