Are there machines in your facility that violate current standards? As an employer, it is your responsibility to provide your employees with a safe place to work.
Learning and then applying machine guarding regulations and standards can be a time consuming and expensive process, but not as costly as a machine related injury or fine.
In fact, machine guarding violations issued by OSHA have been in the top ten of cited compliance issues for over the last ten years running. Fines levied from those violations have cost businesses millions of dollars year after year.
With our experience in the safety, health and environmental field, Lovegreen Risk Management, LLC works with management to assess potential risk with an Onsite Machine Safety Survey. We then develop a machine guarding program that meets all manufacturing and regulatory requirements.
What does a machine safety survey entail?
A trained professional will come to your site and perform an examination of your current machine guarding efforts. During the evaluation, our professionals will inspect the physical, safety components, including existing perimeter guarding, point-of-operation protection, and power transmission issues. The machines' electrical system will also be inspected for emergency stop compliance. We will provide you with an illustrated, written report detailing each machine's risk factors.
Next, the inspector will work with management and the machine operator to examine the intangible components of machine safety. Some of the items discussed are as follows:
Potential machine hazards are identified and are ranked according to how serious the hazard is. How
severely might an employee be injured if this hazard is not reduced?
Are existing safety procedures reliable, or are they easy to defeat?
How likely is it that the hazard will result in an accident? How many people are exposed to the hazard?
How often is the machine used? What is the operator's level of training, skill and experience?
A combination of all tangible and intangible factors result
in an assessment of risk score. The higher the score, the higher
the probability that operating the machine may result in a safety incident.
Once the hazard analysis has generated a risk score, it needs to be determined
if the risk can be eliminated all together. Sometimes the fix is as simple
as installing a panel over the hazard with tamper proof hardware. In most
cases the safety risk cannot be eliminated so it must be managed. This
may be accomplished by guarding the hazard with physical barriers and
electronic devices. Barriers and shields are used to reduce the level
of risk and probability of an accident.
At this point, we provide you with written recommendations for safeguarding your machine to ensure compliance with current standards. These recommendations may include physical barriers, light curtains, electrical controls or a combination of other options. We will then install safeguarding systems on your equipment or supply your maintenance department with the proper guarding supplies if your choose to have your maintenance department perform the guarding work.
Have questions about our machine safety surveys?
Contact us today with your questions, or for a no obligation, price quote to survey the machines in your facility. You may reach us
by email or call us
toll-free at 1-800-262-8284, Monday thru Friday, 7am to 5pm CST.
