Safeguards point-of-operation

Power Press Point-of-Operation Safeguarding, Industrial Data Sheet, National Safety Council, Itasca, IL... 

Safeguards include guards, devices, distance, or location. Safeguards for machines fall into two major groups mechanical power transmission safeguards, and point-of-operation safeguards. 

Awareness Signals These are audio or visual signals used with point-of-operation safeguards. The signals alert an operator or others that a hazard exists or is approaching. As long as an operator sees or hears the signals, there is an opportunity to take protective action. 

Does the machine have a point-of-operation safeguard ... 

Safeguarding the machine operator, operator assistants, and other personnel from the machine s points of operation and other areas has proven effective in prevention of injury. Careful engineering of safeguarding design and effective management are key elements of every successful safety program. 

Tripping devices for a machine that require simultaneous application of both hands to operate the control, so that the hands of the operator are kept out of the point-of-operation area while the machine is operating. A two-hand-control device protects only the hands of the machine operator (and not other individuals) when used as a safeguarding device. See also Hostage Control Device. 

Anti-Repeat Many machines operate one cycle at a time. An operator inserts a part into the machine and then activates the machine, which operates on that part and stops. Then the operator removes the completed part. The operator gets used to the rhythm of the machine. If, on occasion, the machine cycles more than once, the operator may have reached into the point-of-operation at the end of the first cycle and injury can occur. Where this situation might occur, the design for a machine action must incorporate an anti-repeat mechanism as a safeguard to prevent an inadvertent extra cycle. 

Lockout is required if these activities take place during normal production where an employee is required to remove or bypass a guard or place a part of the body into a point of operation. The standard defines normal production as using equipment to perform it s intended function. During normal production, machine safeguards are in place to protect workers. 

OSHA discusses drill presses in its Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Employees from Amputations publication. It says, among other things, that for drill presses workers must be protected from the rotating chuck and swarf that is produced by the drill bit. Guarding at the point-of-operation is difficult because of the nature of the drilling press, OSHA says. 

Machine guard opening/distance-to-point-of-operation measuring tool/stick (these are available from many machine safeguarding suppliers/consultants)... 

Table 1 illustrates safeguarding methods which have proven successful in the prevention of operator injury. Of special concern in the selection of safeguarding method should be the protection of nonoperators because experience has shown that operator assistants and other nonoperators are often injured if not protected from hazard points. 

The concept of IAEA s safeguards analytical services (Lopez-Menchero et al. 1976) foresaw that the agency would establish and operate a fully equipped safeguards analytical laboratory (SAL). The analytical capability of SAL was to be such that samples taken from any key measurement point of the fuel cycle could be analyzed and that the results of these analyses would meet the requirements of safeguards accounting verification. 

Set critical control points. There should be established points throughout the entire process that are utilized as stop-and-test points that evaluate the success or failure of the production process up to that critical point. Critical control points are used as safeguards throughout the process, allowing operators and supervisors to judge whether or not to proceed with the manufacturing process. Make sure these steps are clearly identified in the master production record. Operating personnel must be able to clearly identify the parameters of the test and what steps are required if those parameters are not met. 

In specific extraordinary situations it may be necessary to temporarily increase the setpoint or bypass or deactivate some type of instrumentation or other equipment safeguard. However, this should only be done in an established manner, according to appropriate Management of Change procedures with proper approval. Furthermore, any special defeat to a safeguard should be properly signaled for the operators and documented in a special way. Operators and supervisors must regularly review that out-of-compliance log or alarm point summary so that the defeated system can be properly restored at the earliest possible time. 

---