Accident and Safety Prevention, Essay Example

As a safety and health manager, I would not permit the removal of machine guards from a milling machine. While it would be beneficial to increase the company’s productivity, removing the machine guards would pose a safety risk to workers and would not be in compliance with Occupational Safety & Health Administration standards. On the particular topic of machine guarding, OSHA states that “moving machine parts have the potential to cause severe workplace injuries, such as crushed fingers or hands, amputations, burns, or blindness” and that “safeguards are essential for protecting workers from these preventable injuries” (OSHA, n.d.).

While removing the machine guards from the milling machine is clearly unacceptable, it is essential to explain to the manufacturing director why this should not be done in case he decides to take matters into his own hands. Firstly, it is likely that the machine guards are the reason that the machines are safe and never logged an accident with regards to its use; simply put, the machine guards are doing their job. Removing these machine guards will expose workers to a variety of hazards which is not only ethically wrong but could cause the company a large sum in fees in damages if something were to occur. Furthermore, there is no proof that removing the guards would actually increase the productivity of the machine; objective data would be necessary. Ultimately however, the risks and potential costs that removing the machine guards would pose far outweigh the benefits and they should be kept in place.

The union representative should be reminded that he is correct, and be encouraged to take the same stand on this issue if similar currencies are to occur. The responsibility of the safety and health manager is primarily employee safety and keeping the machine guards on the machine will ensure that safe practices continue in this particular aspect of the workplace.

References

Goetsch DL. (2009). Occupational Safety and Health for Technologists, Engineers, and Managers, seventh edition.

OSHA. (n.d.). Machine Guarding. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/machineguarding/index.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=peer360&utm_campaign=SafetyMattersDecember2011?utm_content=MostCitedO    SHAStandards