Any machine with moving parts, sharp edges and hot surfaces on a construction site has the potential to cause serious injury for workers. In addition to proper training and personal protection equipment, machine safeguards need to be implemented and maintained.
Each month, OSHA issues citations for injuries directly related to machinery. Just this month, a Wisconsin company was cited over $40,000 for two repeated safety violations regarding an unguarded mechanical power press.
“Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from these preventable injuries. Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact injure the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be eliminated or controlled.”
OSHA’s General Requirements: [29 CFR 1910.212(a)(2)] specifies that safeguards meet the following minimum standards:
- Prevent contact: The safeguard must prevent hands, arms, and any other part of a worker’s body from making contact with dangerous moving parts. A good safeguarding system eliminates the possibility of the operator or another worker placing parts of their bodies near hazardous moving parts.
- Secure: Workers should not be able to easily remove or tamper with the safeguard, because a safeguard that can easily be made ineffective is no safeguard at all. Guards and safety devices should be made of durable material that will withstand the conditions of normal use. They must firmly be secured to the machine.
- Protect from falling objects: The safeguard should ensure that no objects can fall into moving parts. A small tool which is dropped into a cycling machine could easily become a projectile that could strike and injure someone.
- Create no new hazards: A safeguard defeats its own purpose if it creates a hazard of its own such as a shear point, a jagged edge, or an unfinished surface which can cause a laceration. The edges of guards. for instance, should be rolled or bolted in such a way that they eliminate sharp edges.
- Create no interference: Any safeguard which impedes a worker from performing the job quickly and comfortably might soon be overridden or disregarded. Proper safeguarding can actually enhance efficiency as it can relieve the worker’s apprehensions about injury.
- Allow safe lubrication: If possible, one should be able to lubricate the machine without removing the safeguards. Locating oil reservoirs outside the guard, with a line leading to the lubrication point, will reduce the need for the operator or maintenance worker to enter the hazardous area.
Lockout/tagout procedures are also important for machine safety. Citations for improper safety procedures regarding dangerous machinery can include violations such as improperly securing gas cylinders, failure to reduce the pressure in a compressed air device during cleaning and failure to ensure workers follow safety procedures to prevent accidental machine startup. For more on this important topic, see our website on safety measures.
