ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Every year, machine accidents result in thousands of serious injuries and hundreds of deaths.
The moving parts of a machine can cut or crush, flying debris can cause eye injuries, and material can kick back causing severe injuries.
Employees need to know the dangers and potential hazards of the particular machine that you are operating.
Never remove a safety guard or device. Never operate a machine without all safety guards in place.
Don't wear loose clothing or dangling jewelry while operating machinery and if you have long hair, make sure it is secured in a ponytail or bun. These items can get caught in the rotating parts of a machine.
Pay attention to the following information from OSHA.gov.
Crushed hands and arms, severed fingers, blindness - the list of possible machinery-related injuries is as long as it is horrifying.
There seem to be as many hazards created by moving machine parts as there are types of machines.
Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from needless and preventable injuries.
A good rule to remember is this - any machine part, function, or process which many cause injury must be safeguarded.
When the operation of a machine or accidental contact with it can injure the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be either controlled or eliminated.
Where Mechanical Hazards Occur
Dangerous moving parts in three basic areas require safeguarding.
• The point of operation: That point where work is performed on the material, such as cutting, shaping, boring or forming of stock.
• Power transmission apparatus: All components of the mechanical system which transmit energy to the part of the machine performing the work. These components include flywheels, pulleys, belts, connecting rods, couplings, cams, spindles, chains, cranks and gears.
• Other moving parts: All parts of the machine which move while the machine is working. These can include reciprocating, rotating and transverse moving parts, as well as feed mechanisms and auxiliary parts of the machine.
Requirements for Safeguards
Safeguards must meet these minimum general requirements:
• 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 be firmly 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 since 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.
Devices
A safety device may perform one of several functions:
• Stop the machine if a hand or any part of the body is inadvertently placed in the danger area
• Restrain or withdraw the operator's hands from the danger area during operation
• Require the operator to use both hands on machine controls, thus keeping both hands and body out of danger
• Provide a barrier which is synchronized with the operating cycle of the machine in order to prevent entry to the danger area during the hazardous part of the cycle.
Guards are barriers which prevent access to danger areas. There are four general types of guards - fixed, interlocked, adjustable and self-adjusting.
As its name implies, a fixed guard is a permanent part of the machine. It is not dependent upon moving parts to function.
When an interlocking guard is opened or removed, the tripping mechanism and/or power automatically shuts off or disengages, the moving parts of the machine are stopped, and the machine cannot cycle or be started until the guard is back in place.
Adjustable guards are useful because they allow flexibility in accommodating various sizes of stock.
Self-adjusting guards protect the operator by placing a barrier between the danger area and the operator.
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