Workplace safety machinery

Written materials are only useful for a short time period. It is a good idea to use them sparingly, maybe once a month as a stuffer in the payroll envelope or during a safety talk. If you post it on the bulletin board, it will be read within a week. You should then take it down since it has probably been read by all of those who will take the time to read it. At times, you may develop plasticized cards that contain new rules, inspection directions, operator guidelines, or changes in procedures, which you cannot expect a worker to memorize. These cards should fit into a shirt pocket and can act as reminders to workers if they have questions when no one is around. At times I reconunend that safety operating procedures be plasticized and placed on machinery or equipment that is complicated to operate or not operated frequently. If you use written materials, test them out on the audience before mass distribution. Written materials have their place in fostering workplace safety and health communications. 

These new officials are empowered to inspect workplaces, check machinery and equipment, collect evidence, and interview relevant persons to verily the working environment of a company. Safety inspectors can order employers to improve working conditions, or repair or stop the use of unsafe or dangerons machinery or eqnipment. 

The purpose of safety guidelines is to provide for the safety of persons at a workplace or in the course of their employment or in connection with the use of machinery. 

Standards adopted by the European Community for Standardization governing the safety of workplace machinery have had considerable impact on American manufacturers who export machinery to Europe. There are several European Committee standards governing the safety of equipment that is to go into the workplace. Two are particularly pertinent here They are EN 292 and ISO 14121 (formerly known as EN 1050). 

A workplace hazard identification and risk assessment should be carried out before any modification or introduction of new work methods, materials, processes or machinery. Such assessment should be done in consultation with and involving workers and their representatives, and the safety and health committee, where appropriate. 

Before expecting a change in safety culture, the physical workplace must be put in order. This includes the guarding of all machinery, the erection of handrails where necessary, and any other modification or repair required to bring the workplace up to compliance with safety legislation. The electrical installation must be safe, and all electrical switches and circuit breakers must be clearly labeled in a standardized... 

Inspecting the workplace, including any article, substance, plant, machinery, or health and safety equipment at that workplace, on a monthly basis with a view to the health and safety of the employees. 

In reality, strategic safety requires the organization to practice risk assessment and risk management. That is, based on workplace hazards (chemicals, machinery, operations, maintenance, commercial motor vehicles, etc.), what are the possible accident outcome scenarios a motor carrier would experience ... 

Health risk assessment is the process of examining and evaluating the risk to the health and safety of workers while at work arising from the circumstances of the occurrence of a hazard at the workplace [1]. A risk assessment is a careful examination of what, at the workplace, could cause harm to people, so that the employer can decide whether he has taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect the business too if for example output is lost, machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase or the employer even have to go to court. 

Many workplaces contain spaces that are considered confined because their configurations hinder the activities of employees who must enter, work in, and exit them. For example, employees who work in process vessels generally must squeeze in and out through narrow openings and perform their tasks while cramped or contorted. OSHA uses the term confined space to describe such spaces. In addition, there are many instances where employees who work in confined spaces face increased risk of exposure to serious hazards. In some cases, confinement itself poses an entrapment hazard. In other cases, confined space work keeps employees closer to hazards, such as asphyxiating atmospheres or the moving parts of machinery. OSHA uses the term permit-required confined space or permit space) to describe those spaces that both have confined space and have elements that pose health or safety hazards (see Rgure 25.4). 

The recognition of hazards is of primary importance. After workers and supervisors have been trained regarding hazard identification, their understanding of Occupational Safety and Health regulations will help identify jobs, equipment and machinery, areas, and industry processes that have exhibited hazards in the past. It will be your responsibility to identify the potential for hazards, or the existence of hazards within your workplace. Some tools used for identification have been presented in the form of hazard hunts, job hazard analysis, and job safety observations, while other techniques provide the means to prevent and control existing hazards. 

For example, a European standard adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requires that risk assessments be made for all machinery to go into a workplace within the European Community. That standard is ISO 12100-1, Safety of Machinery—Basic Concepts, General Principles for Design Part 1, Basic Terminology, Methodology. The risk assessment process is outlined in ISO 14121, Safety of Machinery—Principles for Risk Assessments. These risk assessment requirements have been met in some companies by applying an adaptation of the PHA technique. 

This checklist is an adaptation of information that appears in the ISO s Safety of Maehinery—Principles of Risk Assessment, Standard, IS014121. The checklist is a guide for companies located throughout the world who design and manufacture machinery and equipment that would go into European workplaces. Although the checklist pertains to a broad range of equipment, those who use it as a reference must understand that it could not possibly include all hazards and all hazardous situations. 

The checklist in Addendum B at the conclusion of Chapter 8 is adapted from ISO 14121, the Safety of Machinery—Principles of Risk Assessment Standard. It is to serve as a guide for those who design and manufacture equipment and machinery that goes into European workplaces. 

OHS issues will certainty arise from time to time in ary workplace, and can be hartdled through the consultative process which Robens-style OHS law sets up - employers talking with health and safety representatives, or in health and safety committees, hr srrtall workplaces, or those without representatives, the employer can discuss matters one-on-one with employees. Issues onty become disputes if there is a difference between an employee s request, demand or point of view and that of the employer. The dispnte may be for a mtmber of reasons - one, of coitrse, is inabihty to pay for risk control measures. Another may be that the employer is dependent on others to implement solutions. For example, a contractor at a mine site may operate machinery belonging to the principal which needs new capital investment for safe operation rather than just maintenance. An accident make employees aware of a risk they weren t aware of before. 

This is a broad ranged standard applicable to a very large share of the machinery field. Its title is Safety of Machinery—General Safety Requirements and Risk Assessments. It describes procedures for identifying hazards, assessing risks, and reducing risks to an acceptable level over the life cycle of the machinery. It was influenced by the European Community s requirement that a CE mark be place on machinery and equipment that is to go into a European workplace. 

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations... 

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