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When it comes to safety in the work place, we tend to spot the most obvious hazards: chemicals, falls, and poor housekeeping to name a few, but what about machine guarding? Many times, people tend to remove machine guards in an attempt to make the job easier or quicker. However, this can be a dangerous, even fatal, mistake.
 
Beware of the most common types of hazardous machinery motions and actions:
·         Rotating motion
·         Transversing motion
·         In-running nip points
·         Reciprocating
·         Cutting action
·         Punching action
·         Shearing action
·         Bending action
 These motions and actions can easily grab a worker and pull him/her into the machine. Workers should take care to keep limbs, hair, clothing articles, tools, and any other objects away from machine parts that make these actions.
 
Your facility should develop a checklist of safety procedures and precautions to protect your workers from cuts, amputations, crushes, and possibly death. There are a few minimum guard requirements that your facility should have implemented. Machine guards should:
·         Prevent contact
·         Be secured to the machine
·         Protect from falling objects
·         Create no new hazards
·         Create no interference
·         Allow safe lubrication
 
Remember that machine guards are only effective if they are left in place and used correctly.