Manufacturing

In order to protect ourselves from the massive energy generated and utilized by industrial machines, we install machine guards. In this lesson, you will learn about the common hazards to guard against, the different machine guarding methods, and the inspection, maintenance, and safety training we need to keep our place of work safe. 

Knowing what to look out for is the first step to safety. Let's talk about the common hazards in the manufacturing industry we need to guard against. 

"Hi team! Just a heads up that the night shift supervisor won't be reporting for work later tonight due to a machine-related injury. Area 3 will be temporarily closed for machine-guarding maintenance."


Looks like you're going to be extra careful at work today.


A lathe is a rotating work-piece where materials (in this case, wood) are attached to in order to assist in its shaping, and altering. Sizes can vary widely depending on their use case.


Conveyor belts are commonly found in assembly-lines. Their job is the automatic transport of stock or material from one point or process to the next.


Metal stamping machines are designed to automatically press onto sheets of metal in order to impress upon them a designed pattern or reshape them completely.


Sparks, chips, and flying splinters
Splashes, sprays, gas, and fumes produced by machines
Electricity and excessive noise
All of these are non-mechanical hazards.
Aside from set machine guards, PPEs are also used to further improve worker safety..


Non-mechanical hazards


What are the different hazard types we need to guard against?


Hazards to Guard Against

Different machines mean different hazards. To protect ourselves, we also need to be aware of the different machine guarding methods we have at our disposal. 

Disclaimer


Physical Barriers
Structures designed to keep workers away from machines at work in order to minimize or eliminate the risk of injury.
Some examples of physical barriers include...


Safety Light Curtain
Emits light beams over a chosen area which, if interrupted by an individual or object, elicits a safety response such as an alarm or a physical barrier.


Safety Controller
A single safety controller can be connected to multiple machines. This allows workers to shut machines down with a single push of a button in emergency situations.


Indicator Lights
Compact and highly visible, indicator lights can be placed almost anywhere in the manufacturing plant. They are used to indicate the safety and operation statuses of machines.


Machine Guarding Methods

One can never be too safe in a manufacturing plant. To ensure worker safety and compliance with relevant safety standards, diligent machine guarding inspection and maintenance practices must be observed, along with relevant safety training. 

We need to ensure that maintenance workers, whether in-house or contractual, have updated information and instruction on the machines and safeguards they are going to service.


Maintenance workers must also follow prescribed lock out, tag out procedures before servicing machines. This ensures that machines don't accidentally start-up while safeguards are being serviced.
This also prevents machines that are in need of repairs from being powered until they are safe to use.


Finally, we must ensure that maintenance workers are using appropriate and safe equipment in servicing machines and safeguards.


Machine operators and maintenance workers must be trained in how machine guards function.
The location of machine safeguards, their specific safety use, and the hazards they protect against must be included in the safety training.
Lastly, safety training must include protocols on what to do if workers and maintenance personnel notice missing, damaged, or inadequate machine guards.


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