TYPES OF HAZARDS

A wide variety of mechanical motions and actions may present hazards to workers operating or working around machinery. The three basic types of hazardous mechanical motions and actions are:

• Hazardous Motions – Including rotating machine parts, reciprocating motions (sliding parts or up/down motions), and transverse motions (materials moving in a continuous line).
• Points of Operation – The areas where the machine cuts, shapes, bores, or bends the stock being fed through it.
• Pinch Points and Shear Points – the area where a part of the body or clothing could be caught between a moving part and a stationary object. This would include power transmission apparatuses such as flywheels, pulleys, belts, chains, couplings, spindles, cams, gears, connecting rods and other machine components that transmit energy.

There are also non-mechanical hazards that can injure machine operators or personnel working in the vicinity of machinery. These hazards include flying splinters, chips or debris; splashes, sparks or sprays that are created when the machine is operating. These hazards can be prevented through the use of machine guarding and wearing/use of required personal protective equipment (PPE).