Machine Guarding is Still One of the Top-5 Most Common Citations

Thousands of workers in the United States suffer amputations every year. Hundreds more in Canada.

And in most cases, it wasn’t catastrophic equipment failure.

It was routine work.

• Clearing a jam.
• Adjusting material.
• Cleaning buildup.
• Bypassing a guard “just for a second.”

Machine guarding consistently ranks among OSHA’s Top 10 most cited violations. Provincial regulators across Canada continue issuing orders tied to inadequate guarding and lockout failures.

This is not a rare exposure. It is a recurring one.

The uncomfortable truth?

1. Policies exist.
2. Training records exist.
3. Sign-offs exist.

But most serious guarding injuries occur in under a second — when supervision hesitates, production pressure overrides discipline, or familiarity replaces vigilance.

That’s why we created a focused Machine Guarding Safety Talk package designed specifically for supervisors.

These are not generic lectures.

They are story-driven, behavior-focused conversations that address:

• Shortcut culture
• Complacency among experienced operators
• Production pressure
• Lockout discipline
• Real-world injury data from the US and Canada

Three powerful talks:

1. The Shortcut That Took a Hand
2. Familiarity Is the Most Dangerous Hazard
3. The Cost of One Second

Each one is ready to deliver. No scrambling. No slide creation. No filler.

If machine guarding is part of your operation, this is not optional content.

It’s frontline prevention.

If you are serious about reducing preventable amputations — start with the conversations happening on your floor.