Quick Start Guide
Chapter 25: Machine Safeguarding—Shop and Machine Safety

NEW 07/10
URL: http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/pub3000/CH25.html
Revision Record: http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/pub3000/Pub3000Changes.html

Who needs to know about these requirements?

The requirements of Machine Safeguarding apply to:

Laboratory employees, participating visitors, guests, and contractor employees

Whenever they are:

Working with machinery (machine equipment, machine tools, and power tools) that could cause injury

Performing maintenance on machinery

In the vicinity of machinery

Why?

Unguarded machinery and/or lack of proper Personal Protective Equipment when working with, near or on machinery may lead to:

Injuries (including loss of body members, or fatalities) to personnel

Property damage

Extra costs and delays

What you need to know before performing work:

Define work/protocols.

The Machine Safeguarding—Shop and Machine Safety Program applies to all LBNL employees, subcontractors, vendors, and guests who work with or perform maintenance on machine tools, machine equipment, or power tools. This includes building system machinery and machinery used in the course of research.

Analyze hazards. Perform risk assessment.

It is line management’s responsibility to ensure that machine-tool and machine-equipment guarding is adequate. Never remove factory-installed guards unless they are designed to be removed for a particular operation and equivalent means of protection are used (e.g., table-saw guards are removed for fence cuts; when appropriate, push sticks are used).

During equipment maintenance, follow applicable lockout/tagout requirements of PUB-3000 Chapter 18 (Lockout/Tagout and Verification).

Line management is expected to evaluate employee skill levels prior to assigning work. If an employee is hired to perform a skilled trade in which he or she is qualified, or has extensive experience operating a particular piece of equipment, a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) provides sufficient training documentation. Research personnel who wish to become qualified to perform limited shop work need documented OJT specific to the machine tool in question. This may be achieved by using PUB-3000 Appendix A (Example of an Application to Use Shop Equipment) or an approved equivalent qualification process.