- Published 22 Dec 2022
- Last Modified 29 Aug 2023
- 7 min
A Complete Guide to Machine Safety
Want to know more about machine safety? This guide takes you through why it is important and the regulations as well as the best products available to ensure employees are protected and are able to operate machinery safely.
What is Machine Safety?
Machinery is commonplace in industrial environments like factories, however, it comes with a number of risks. Moving parts, hot surfaces, presses, clamps, and sharp edges pose clear dangers, and it is imperative that operators are protected against them.
Operational precautions and training are vital for safe machinery use. As a first step, it is imperative to minimise risks by implementing guarding or protection. It is also important to have clear warning signs fitted.
The addition of machinery safety systems using sensors, switches, and optoelectronic protective devices for monitoring how an operator interacts with a machine is a secondary measure when physical guarding is impractical.
Machine Safety Definition
Machine safety refers to the measures and precautions taken to protect individuals from hazards posed by machines and equipment in various settings, such as factories, workplaces, and public spaces.
What are the Best Machine Safety Products?
Let's look at key products that can be integrated into machinery or production lines to ensure the health and safety of your employees:
Safety Door and Interlock Switches
Safety-rated door switches, also known as interlock switches, are used to prevent or permit access to hazardous machinery protected by guarding or gates/safety doors. They do so by activating or cutting off electrical current according to the circumstances and locking the barrier. For example, if the keyguard is opened, the current will be switched off.
Emergency Stop Buttons
Emergency stop push buttons, also known as e-stops or kill switches, are fail-safe mechanisms that allow machinery to be immediately switched off in the event of an accident or other serious incident.
E-stops should be clearly marked and easily accessible, but not so accessible that they could be accidentally activated. They are available in three models - push-pull, key release, and twist release.
Non-Contact Safety Switches
Non-contact safety switches quickly switch off dangerous machinery and prevent injuries. They operate via transponders, inductors, or magnets and are typically hard-wearing, requiring little maintenance.
Foot Switches
Foot switches are a control mechanism typically used on larger machinery as a safer alternative to hand switches. Foot pressure activates or deactivates electrical circuits within the switch.
Machine Safety Fencing
Machine guards are shields fitted to different parts of hazardous equipment to protect operators from debris, sparks, blades, moving parts, and other dangers.
Machine guards are available in different materials, designs, and sizes. They provide vital basic protection. Some guarding designs can be locked to prevent tampering.
Safety Relays
Safety relays are monitoring devices designed to detect electrical and mechanical faults in machinery. Some models monitor a single function and some track multiple functions. The latter is generally easier to install.
Once a problem is detected, relays can launch different responses to protect workers or prevent costly breakdowns. These responses include pausing the machinery, initiating an emergency stop, or shutting down the electrical current.
Safety relays typically work in conjunction with other protective equipment such as light barriers and safety mats.
Grab Wire Switches
Also known as rope pull switches, grab wire switches provide an emergency stop function initiated by pulling on a wire, cord, or rope.
They are typically used where a conventional emergency stop button would be inaccessible or awkward to access.
Safety Light Barriers
Also known as safety light curtains or safety light screens, these optoelectronic devices detect objects in certain areas. They initiate an emergency shutdown of hazardous machinery when such detection occurs. They are designed to prevent injuries to workers who have gotten too close to the machines in question and are therefore at risk of injury.
They are available in a variety of sizes with different scanning capabilities and strengths.
Two Hand Switches
Safety two-hand control switches prevent the activation of especially hazardous industrial machinery (for example, metalworking or printing machines) until both the operator’s hands are in place on the switch. This reduces the risk of accidental activation and injury.
Safety Pressure Mats
Safety pressure mats detect when people stand on their sensing surface and initiate an emergency shutdown of the machinery they are linked to. When placed in critical areas, safety mats provide an additional safeguard against injury when workers come too close to hazardous equipment.
Machine Safety Signs
Machine and equipment safety signs are a vital component of health and safety planning. When placed in key areas of machine shops, factories, and industrial premises, appropriate signage cuts the risk of accidents by providing workers and visitors with quick visual cues to particular mechanical hazards, thereby helping to ensure they stay on alert and don’t expose themselves to unnecessary risk.
Just like road signs, machine warning signs should be eye-catching, easy to understand, and convey urgency through bold colours.
Emergency Stop Buttons
Emergency stop push buttons, also known as e-stops or kill switches, are fail-safe mechanisms that allow machinery to be immediately switched off in the event of an accident or other serious incident.
E-stops should be clearly marked and easily accessible, but not so accessible that they could be accidentally activated. They are available in three models - push-pull, key release, and twist release.
Foot Switches
Foot switches are a control mechanism typically used on larger machinery as a safer alternative to hand switches. Foot pressure activates or deactivates electrical circuits within the switch.
Non-Contact Safety Switches
Non-contact safety switches quickly switch off dangerous machinery and prevent injuries. They operate via transponders, inductors, or magnets and are typically hard-wearing, requiring little maintenance.
Machine Safety Fencing
Machine guards are shields fitted to different parts of hazardous equipment to protect operators from debris, sparks, blades, moving parts, and other dangers.
Machine guards are available in different materials, designs, and sizes. They provide vital basic protection. Some guarding designs can be locked to prevent tampering.
Safety Relays
Safety relays are monitoring devices designed to detect electrical and mechanical faults in machinery. Some models monitor a single function and some track multiple functions. The latter is generally easier to install.
Once a problem is detected, relays can launch different responses to protect workers or prevent costly breakdowns. These responses include pausing the machinery, initiating an emergency stop, or shutting down the electrical current.
Safety relays typically work in conjunction with other protective equipment such as light barriers and safety mats.
Grab Wire Switches
Also known as rope pull switches, grab wire switches provide an emergency stop function initiated by pulling on a wire, cord, or rope.
They are typically used where a conventional emergency stop button would be inaccessible or awkward to access.
Safety Light Barriers
Also known as safety light curtains or safety light screens, these optoelectronic devices detect objects in certain areas. They initiate an emergency shutdown of hazardous machinery when such detection occurs. They are designed to prevent injuries to workers who have gotten too close to the machines in question and are therefore at risk of injury.
They are available in a variety of sizes with different scanning capabilities and strengths.
Two Hand Switches
Safety two-hand control switches prevent the activation of especially hazardous industrial machinery (for example, metalworking or printing machines) until both the operator’s hands are in place on the switch. This reduces the risk of accidental activation and injury.
Safety Pressure Mats
Safety pressure mats detect when people stand on their sensing surface and initiate an emergency shutdown of the machinery they are linked to. When placed in critical areas, safety mats provide an additional safeguard against injury when workers come too close to hazardous equipment.
Machine Safety Signs
Machine and equipment safety signs are a vital component of health and safety planning. When placed in key areas of machine shops, factories, and industrial premises, appropriate signage cuts the risk of accidents by providing workers and visitors with quick visual cues to particular mechanical hazards, thereby helping to ensure they stay on alert and don’t expose themselves to unnecessary risk.
Just like road signs, machine warning signs should be eye-catching, easy to understand, and convey urgency through bold colours.