Machinery Guards and OSHA Requirements
Moving machine
parts possess the potential to cause serious workplace injuries, which include
crushed fingers or hands, amputations, burns, or blindness. Amputations,
lacerations, and abrasions are costly and possess the possible to raise
workers' compensation premiums. As a consequence of this fact, OSHA
(Occupational Security & Health Administration) has established a set of
standards around machine guarding. The purpose of machinery guards is to
protect the machine operator and other employees inside the work area from
hazards created during the machine's normal operation. This would include
hazards of concern such as: ingoing nip points, rotating components,
reciprocating, transversing, and/or flying chips & sparks.
Any machine
part, function, or process that might lead to injury must be safeguarded. When
the operation of a machine or accidental contact with it could injure the
operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be either controlled or
eliminated. That point where work is performed on the material, for example
cutting, shaping, boring, or forming of stock. All components with the
mechanical system that transmit energy to the part from the machine performing
the work. These components include flywheels, pulleys, belts, connecting rods,
couplings, cams, spindles, chains, cranks, and gears.
All parts on
the machine that move while the machine is working. These may include
reciprocating, rotating, and transverse moving parts, as well as feed mechanisms
and auxiliary components from the machine.
Kinds of MachineryGuards:
Simple Guards
Guards are
physical barriers that enclose dangerous machine parts and prevent employee
contact with them. They must be strong and fastened by any secure method that
prevents the guard from being inadvertently dislodged or removed. This is the
preferred method of protection.
Safe
Guarding Devices
Safeguarding
devices are controls or attachments that usually prevent inadvertent access by
employees to hazardous machine areas, when properly designed and installed.
Examples include: presence sensing, pullback, restraint, safety controls, and
gates.
Secondary
Safeguarding Methods
Detection
safeguarding devices, awareness devices, safeguarding methods and safe work
procedures are secondary safeguarding methods. These methods provide a lesser
degree of protection than the primary safeguarding methods as they do not
prevent employees from placing or having any part of their bodies in the
hazardous machine areas.
Location
To consider a
part of a machine to be safeguarded by location, the dangerous moving part of a
machine must be positioned so that those areas are not accessible or do not
present a hazard to a worker during the normal operation from the machine. A
thorough hazard analysis of each machine and particular situation is absolutely
essential before attempting this safeguarding technique.
Awareness
Barriers (Warnings)
Awareness
barriers do not give complete protection from machinery guards hazards, they
may provide the operator with an extra margin of safety. An awareness barrier
does not provide physical protection, but serves only to remind a person that
he or she is approaching the danger area. Generally, awareness barriers are not
considered adequate when continual exposure to the hazard exists.
Comments
Post a Comment