When employees perform maintenance on machinery or equipment, you must ensure that they know how to protect themselves from the release of hazardous energy. OSHA’s control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) standard at 1910.147 requires you to create procedures for employee protection.
The most important machine design step is ensuring operator safety. During the design process, hazards are often identified that can be removed, but when a hazard cannot be removed, then various levels of safeguarding must be provided. These typically take the form of machine access guarding and point-of-operation guarding.
Insurance studies indicate machine safeguarding provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to reduce bottom-line operating costs by eliminating both the direct and indirect costs of employee accidents.
Any potential risks posed by a machine should be largely eliminated from the start for economic reasons. And a safety system should minimize unnecessary trips to maximize uptime. Here are five steps to consider when planning a machine build
CMSE® sets standards for certified, international machinery safety qualification
May 28, 2015
In 2013, Pilz worked with TÜV NORD to develop the international qualification CMSE® - Certified Machinery Safety Expert. This qualification program teaches extensive knowledge of the machine lifecycle in 22 countries, worldwide.