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What to pack for factory tours: ID, hygiene rules and layers
What to pack for factory tours: photo ID, the hygiene rules food and pharmaceutical plants apply, what comes off, and what to settle before you go.
What to take away
- Food and pharmaceutical plants add hygiene rules to the safety rules, and the hygiene rules are not about your safety.
- Expect to be given a coat, a hairnet and shoe covers, and to remove your own jewelry first.
- Bring government-issued photo ID, and ask when booking whether the plant needs details in advance.
- Ask about phones and cameras before the visit. Photography is restricted at many working plants.
- Check what a chemical site handles before taking anyone with a respiratory condition.
What food and clean plants ask of you
Food, drink and pharmaceutical plants add a second layer of rules that surprise first-time visitors, and they are not about your safety. The aim is an environment uncontaminated by the people in it. That changes what you pack and what you take off.
| What the plant checks | What it asks | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Hair and beards | Covered | Accept the hairnet |
| Watches, rings, jewelry | Off before you enter | Take them off yourself |
| Makeup and nail polish | Sometimes not allowed | Ask when booking |
| Hands | Washed and sanitized at the door | Do it before the route starts |
| Clothing | Coat and shoe covers supplied | Wear what you are given |
Clean production areas go further still. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's laboratory pages give a sense of how controlled environments are managed, and a pharmaceutical clean area operates on the same principle: keeping the environment uncontaminated by the people in it.
Behind those rules sits the FDA. Plants making food work under current good manufacturing practice, set out in 21 CFR Part 117, and drug makers under 21 CFR Parts 210 and 211. A visitor is one more source of contamination the plant must control.
Two kinds of rule, one visit
Safety rules and hygiene rules are separate, and a food plant applies both. Closed shoes, long trousers and nothing loose protect you from the machinery. Hair covering, washed hands and no jewelry protect the environment from the people in it.
Meeting one set does not excuse the other. Both come from the plant, so ask when booking which apply to your route. The shoe and bag side is covered in gate refusals, and the hygiene side is the extra layer on top.
Settle the access details first
Bring a government-issued photo ID to every plant tour, including free ones. Some sites check it against a booking list at the gate. Some require details in advance, particularly at plants with defense, pharmaceutical or food safety obligations.
Check every person in the group, not only the organizer, because teenagers need identification too. If anyone needs help with the route, noise or stairs, the accessibility questions are the place to start.
- Photo identification for everyone in the group, including teenagers
- Whether the plant needs names or other details before the visit
- Any medication you must carry, since plants accommodate this routinely when told in advance
- Whether phones and cameras are allowed on the route
The order on the day
Do the preparation in order, starting before you book and ending at the door. Each step covers a rule that a food or pharmaceutical plant is likely to apply, so none of them should come as a surprise.
- Ask at booking about identification, makeup and nail polish, medication and cameras.
- Arrive with identification for everyone and layers for hot and cold areas.
- Take off jewelry, watches and rings when asked.
- Put on the coat, hairnet and shoe covers you are given.
- Wash and sanitize your hands at the door, and keep your phone in a pocket.
Dress for the cold room and the oven
Plants are hot near ovens and furnaces, cold in chilled areas, and frequently both on one route. Wear layers under the coat you are given, so you can adjust without breaking the hygiene rules.
Closed-toe shoes with a solid sole are the single most common reason people are refused, and what to wear covers the rest of the dress code. Add long trousers, and nothing loose: no scarves, no long straps, no dangling jewelry.
If the plant handles chemicals
For heavy or chemical industry, it is worth knowing what the site works with before you visit, particularly if anyone in the group has a respiratory condition.
The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory is a resource for learning about toxic chemical releases and pollution prevention activities reported by industrial and federal facilities. It is not a reason to avoid a plant, and it is a reasonable thing to look at before taking a child with asthma into a foundry district.
Phones and cameras
Photography is restricted at many working plants for commercial reasons, and a phone in a pocket is usually fine while a phone in your hand is not. Ask about cameras and phones when you book, not at the gate.
At consumer-brand visitor centers cameras are usually allowed. On working floors, frequently not. Always ask first.
What to carry
Carry identification, a small notebook, a pencil, ear plugs, and glasses if you wear them. Leave bags in the car, because most plants will not allow a bag on the floor and lockers are not universal.
Pack for the rules above, then plan the pacing of a day with room around the tour. It matters more than any item on this list.
