Basic H&S Guidelines

Physical hazards to the workers may arise from exposure to the point of operation on a particular
machine or from other moving parts on the same machine. Compression, cutting or shearing of
hands, feet, hair or other body parts can occur. Risk of impact to the eyes, face or other body parts
may be caused by flying objects in grinding or buffing operations, wires from wheel brushes, or
other tools (e.g. needles in stitching or sewing areas). To minimise the likelihood of these types of
injuries to workers, the following specific recommendations are provided for certain machinery.

11.2 Specific Guidelines for Machine Safety

• There should be fixed guards or covers • Mills and calendars should be provided
for all V-belt drives, pulleys, and buffing with multiple safety devices (see
and grinding machines. photographs for examples of good
• There should be needle and pulley practices).
guards on sewing machines. • Interlocked guards and emergency
• There should be blade guards on cutting stops should be provided on all revolving
machines and table saws. drums and rollers.
• Guards may be constructed of solid • Electronic sensors that prevent machine
material or grids; if grids, then the operation or shut down power when body
openings must be <12 mm to prevent parts are detected in the zone of
insertion of fingers. exposure are recommended as useful
• Two-hand switches should be used on safety devices on appropriate machinery.
all cutting machines, presses, and heat
transfer machines unless guarding can
be shown to be effective (a two-hand
switch requires both hands to be on two
buttons simultaneously for machine
operation, thus removing the hands from
the zone of exposure).
• It is important that the factory ensures
that workers do not defeat or override
the two-hand switch safety feature.

Thermal hazards may be created by a variety of factory operations, such as steam systems or
machinery operation that creates hot surfaces. Hot surfaces, pipes or other equipment should be
marked with appropriate hazard warning signs. The degree of the thermal hazard depends upon
the contact time and the thermal conductivity of the surface. Metal parts conduct thermal energy
very well and therefore could cause a greater hazard than wooden parts at the same temperature.
For the purpose of the H&S Guidelines, “hot surfaces” are defined as follows:

• Wooden parts or surfaces: >110oC

• Plastic parts or surfaces: >85oC
• Metal parts or surfaces: >60oC

Potential hazards from ultraviolet (UV) radiation may arise from the use of UV or “black” lights in
production areas. Such UV lights should be shielded to prevent line-of-sight exposure to workers’
eyes. Also, workers at UV stations should be provided with special UV protective goggles or
polycarbonate safety glasses that are rated at >98% UV reduction. (Refer to the “bad practice”
photographs at the end of this section.)

Social & Environmental Affairs Page 58 of 127 Feburary 2010