Machine Guards, Research Paper Example

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the issue of “exposure to unguarded or inadequate guarded machines” is a significant safety issue in many workplaces. Because of such inadequate safety measures thousands of workers suffer injuries every year, while hundreds more are killed in the workplace. OSHA has established a set of standards designed to minimize the risk posed to workers by inadequate or missing safety guards on machines. These standards are very detailed and specific, and they cover a wide range of possible points of injury for workers. The primary categories for each of these fall under three different types: point of operation, power transmission, and operating controls (osha.gov, 2014). Safety guards for these areas can include barrier guards, two-hand operating devices, and other measures; these guards “must not create potential hazards and must be attached to the machine where possible” (osha.gov, 2014).  The detailed subsections of the OSHA standards show that there are often many possible points of injury on machines and other systems with moving parts, and all of these areas must be guarded as well as possible. Many safety guards, such as those that protect rotating barrels and other parts, are designed to prevent the machine from operating without the guard in place.

OSHA’s list of different machines and the possible risk or injury points on those machines is quite extensive. It describes a wide variety of machines that are used to cut, drill, join, and shape materials, and each of these machines has extensive safety features built into them (OSHA, 2014). The OSHA standards for safety guards and machine guards are also extensive, and cover almost every type of possible machine-related injury that could happen in the workplace. Despite the extensive OSHA standards and requirements for machine guards, many injuries still occur in the workplace. The issue is that no amount of safety features or standards will protect workers who do not follow or use them. Workers who purposely circumvent safety features are more likely to be injury. In some instances employers or supervisors may order workers to circumvent safety features of machines; if this happens, workers can make anonymous reports to OSHA about such safety violations. OSHA has established adequate standards for safety in the workplace, as long as those standards are followed by supervisors and workers.

References

OSHA, (2014). Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Employees from Amputations. U.S. Department of Labor.

Osha.gov, (2014). Machine Guarding eTool | General Requirements. [online] Available at https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/machineguarding/generalrequirements.html#Machine_Guarding [Accessed 18 Aug. 2014].