Pharmaceutical production operators work in factories, which may be noisy but very clean and sterile. Depending on the type of products being made, conditions may be smelly.

Pharmaceutical production operators often work with dangerous products and must wear safety clothing. They usually spend a lot of time on their feet and can carry out repetitive tasks.

Pharmaceutical production operators operate a variety of manufacturing and packaging machinery including:

• filtration systems, fermenters and centrifuges to seperate liquids from solids
• microscopes and liquid chromatography machines
• tablet and capsule (hard and soft gel) processors
• industrial blenders, measuring equipment and scales
• packaging machines such as labellers, shrink wrappers and blister pack machines.

Pharmaceutical production operators also use cleaning and sterilising equipment and must wear safety clothing such as overalls, gumboots, gloves, hats and sometimes face masks or breathing apparatus.

Pharmaceutical production operators usually work regular hours; however, they need to be flexible as they may be required to stay late as certain products often require time to mix and process.

Pharmaceutical production operators work in a team under the direction of a supervisor or production manager. They also interact with staff from other departments, such as quality assurance, engineering, warehouse and logistics, research and development, and office staff.