SAFETY SOLUTIONS: Machine Safety

The trade show season is well under way and many readers will be attending a variety of shows across the country searching for new machinery.

Machine guarding and related machinery violations consistently rank among the top 10 of OSHA citations issued. Workers who operate and maintain machinery suffer approximately 18,000 amputations, lacerations, crushing injuries, abrasions and over 800 deaths per year.

In one example, a manufacturer of industrial screening media faces an additional $75,000 in fines from the OSHA for failing to correct machine guarding hazards cited during a previous OSHA inspection.

This particular company was cited in June 2007 for inadequate guarding of moving machine parts and other hazards at its manufacturing plant. The company agreed to correct all cited hazards and paid a fine of $4,725. However, an OSHA follow-up inspection in February 2008 found that three press brakes and eight revolving rollers remained unprotected, leaving employees exposed to potential laceration, amputation and crushing injuries. As a result, OSHA issued two failure to abate citations, with $75,000 in proposed fines. OSHA issues a failure to abate citation when an employer does not correct a cited violation by an established date. OSHA may impose a penalty of up to $7,000 per day for each violation.

If you have knowledge that a hazard exists and you do not correct it, OSHA could issue a Willful Violation. OSHA defines a Willful Violation as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference. “The purpose of machine guarding is to prevent any part of an employee’s body from coming in contact with a machine’s moving parts.”

Machine Guarding FAQs

• Q: Why did the manufacturer build it that way?
  A: Many manufacturers today are not trained in all the regulations that apply to machinery. Many manufacturers of machinery do not follow American National Standards Institute (ANSI) consensus standards or National Electrical Codes (NEC).

• Q: Why did the purchasing department buy it that way?
  A: The success of a machine-guarding program is in the heart of good bid specifications. Many people who purchase equipment do not know the regulations themselves and usually there is no program in place to inspect the machinery prior to having it shipped to the location. Then it is too late.

• Q: Why didn’t the facility or maintenance group inspect the machine before installing it, or why wasn’t it caught during routine maintenance?
  A: Many companies do not have the owners/operators manuals and thus may not have seen that the point of operation guard is usually considered an accessory to the machine.

• Q: Didn’t the safety professional or the person responsible for ensuring that the machine met the intent of the standards prior to purchasing the machine see the potential problems ahead of time?
  A: Many do not have the expertise in machine safety or in conducting risk assessments and just sign off on the documents without trying to contact anyone to ensure that it meets the standards. A good example of this statement is the purchasing of a small piece of machinery that does not have power outage protection.

• Q: The best one is this statement, “Well, OSHA has been or was here and they did not cite the machine”.
  A: Believe it or not, OSHA inspectors may not possess the required expertise to inspect the machine. Many inspectors have only received a one week course in machine safeguarding and they, too, walk by hazards allowing some poor operator to be completely exposed to a serious injury. In today’s world of potential litigation, OSHA inspectors can and have been sued for not bringing the hazard to the employer’s attention if an employee was injured because of this inattention to detail.

To find out more about what OSHA requires or how they interpret an OSHA machine guarding standard visit their website at www.OSHA.gov, then research the documents located in the “Directive” section. OSHA has also established a training program on this subject and it can be found in the “E-tools” section of the site.

Machine safeguarding is a paramount issue for employers, employees and home craftspeople. Think SAFETY the next time you operate powered machinery. If you have machine guarding questions or if I can be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me.

Until my next article, please be safe.

As an additional resource, the following websites provide a wealth of information on safety-related topics and programs. Occupational Safety & Health Administration www.osha.gov National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health www.cdc.gov/niosh Canadian Center for Occupational Health & Safety www.ccohs.ca National Safety Council www.nsc.org American Society of Safety Engineers www.asse.org