Machine Guarding Safety Topic

Overview of OSHA requirements and safeguards for machinery and their parts.

Overview

OSHA stipulates that any machine (part or process) that presents the risk of injury must be safeguarded. In order to prevent operators as well as other employees from injury caused by hazards such as rotating parts, flying objects, ingoing nip points etc. It is the employer’s responsibility to maintain and inspect equipment/machinery to ensure proper working order.

All equipment posing the aforementioned hazards are covered under the current regulation (this includes portable and/or hand tools). A guarding method may be in the form of barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, or electronic safety devices etc.

OSHA

Machine guarding regulations are detailed for general industry in section 29 CFR 1910, Subpart 0. OSHA recommends the following for all safety guards:

• Prevent workers’ hands, arms, and other body parts from making contact with dangerous moving parts.
• Ensure that no object will fall into the moving parts.
• Permit safe, comfortable, and…