Fixed Guards
Stationary barriers permanently attached to the machine or surrounding work area. Fixed guards can be constructed from materials including sheet metal, aluminum, plastic, screens, or bars.
Proper machine guarding is an important part of protecting operators and other employees from hazards created by machinery. OSHA’s machine guarding requirements address hazards including points of operation, in-running nip points, rotating parts, and flying chips and sparks.
Understanding the applicable requirements is an important first step when determining how machinery and surrounding work areas should be guarded.
Shop Machine Guarding
Machine Guarding OSHA Requirements are found in 29 CFR 1910 Subpart O, Machinery and Machine Guarding . The regulation covers definitions, general machine guarding requirements, and requirements applying to specific machinery and mechanical power-transmission equipment.
The regulation is broken down into several components, covering general requirements as well as specific types of machinery.
OSHA’s general requirement states that one or more methods of machine guarding must be used to protect operators and other employees from hazards.
These hazards can include those created by the point of operation, in-running nip points, rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks.
View OSHA 1910.212Identifying hazards is the first step toward protecting workers and promoting safety in the workplace. Common hazardous mechanical motions and actions include:
Rotating motion can be particularly hazardous. Even smooth, slowly rotating shafts can grip clothing and, through skin contact, force an arm or hand into a dangerous position.
Machine guarding should therefore account for the specific mechanical movements and components present in the work area, rather than simply treating the machine as a single unit.
Common hazardous rotating mechanisms include components such as collars, couplings, cams, clutches, flywheels, shaft ends, spindles, and horizontal or vertical shafting.
The danger can increase when bolts, nicks, abrasions, projecting keys, or setscrews are exposed on rotating parts. The existing NASP resource references 29 CFR 1910.219 for these mechanical power-transmission requirements.
Machine guarding equipment can use different guarding approaches depending on the machine, material, access requirements, and application.
Stationary barriers permanently attached to the machine or surrounding work area. Fixed guards can be constructed from materials including sheet metal, aluminum, plastic, screens, or bars.
Guards designed so that opening or removing the guard shuts off power and stops moving machine parts. The machine cannot resume operation until the guard is back in place.
Permanent guards that can be manually adjusted to accommodate different material sizes. Proper adjustment and secure locking are important for maintaining protection.
Guards that automatically adjust to the size of the material being fed into the machine, opening only enough to allow the material to pass while maintaining a barrier between the operator and hazardous areas.
North American Safety Products provides machine guarding equipment and custom guarding solutions designed around specific facility and machine requirements.
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