Principles, Standards and Implementation

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Regulations

EU Directives and Legislation The EU Machinery Directive Essential Health and Safety Requirements The Machinery Directive—Conformity Assessment and Standards Technical File Conformity Assessment Notified Bodies
EC Declaration of Conformity Procedure EC Declaration of Incorporation for Partly Completed Machinery Machinery Supplied from Outside the EU—
Authorized Representatives		 The EU Use of Work Equipment Directive (U.W.E. Directive) U.S. Regulations Occupational Safety and Health Administration Canada Regulations
Occupational Safety and Health Administration

In the United States, one of the main drivers of industrial safety is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA was established in 1970 by an Act of the U.S. Congress. The purpose of this act is to provide safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve human resources. The act authorizes the Secretary of Labor to set mandatory occupational safety and health standards applicable to businesses affecting interstate commerce. This Act shall apply with respect to employment performed in a workplace in a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Wake Island, Outer Continental Shelf Lands defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Johnston Island, and the Canal Zone.

Article 5 of the Act sets the basic requirements. Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees; and shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

Article 5 also states that each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.

The OSHA Act places the responsibility on both the employer and the employee. This is quite divergent from Machinery Directive, which requires suppliers to place machines on the market that are free from hazards. In the U.S., a supplier can sell a machine without any safeguarding. The user must add the safeguarding to make the machine safe. Although this was a common practice when the Act was approved, the trend is for suppliers to provide machines with the safeguarding, as designing safety into a machine is far more cost effective than adding the safeguarding after the machine is designed and built. Standards are now attempting to get the supplier and user to communicate requirements for safeguarding so that machines are made not only safe but more productive.

The Secretary of Labor has the authority to promulgate as an occupational safety or health standard any national consensus standard, and any established Federal standard, unless the promulgation of such a standard would not result in improved safety or health for specifically designated employees.

OSHA accomplishes this task by publishing regulations in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulation (29 CFR). Standards pertaining to industrial machinery are published by OSHA in Part 1910 of 29 CFR. They are freely available on the OSAH website at www.osha.gov. Unlike most standards, which are voluntary, the OSHA standards are laws.

Some of the important parts as they pertain to machine safety are as follows:

A General
B Adoption and Extension of Established Federal Standards
C General Safety and Health Provisions
H Hazardous Materials
I Personal Protective Equipment
J General Environmental Controls—includes Lockout/Tagout
O Machinery and Machine Guarding
R Special industries
S Electrical

Some OSHA standards reference voluntary standards. The legal effect of incorporation by reference is that the material is treated as if it were published in full in the Federal Register. When a national consensus standard is incorporated by reference in one of the subparts, that standard is considered the law. For example, NFPA 70, a voluntary standard known as the US National Electric Code, is referenced in Subpart S. This makes the requirements in the NFPA70 standard mandatory.

The 29 CFR 1910.147, in Subpart J, covers the control of hazardous energy. This is commonly known as the Lockout/Tagout standard. The equivalent voluntary standard is ANSI Z244.1. Essentially, this standard requires power to the machine to be locked out when undergoing service or maintenance. The purpose is to prevent the unexpected energization or startup of the machine which would result in injury to employees.

Employers must establish a program and utilize procedures for affixing appropriate lockout devices or tagout devices to energy isolating devices, and to otherwise disable machines or equipment to prevent unexpected energization, start up or release of stored energy in order to prevent injury to employees.

Minor tool changes and adjustments, and other minor servicing activities, which take place during normal production operations, are not covered by this standard if they are routine, repetitive, and integral to the use of the equipment for production, provided that the work is performed using alternative measures which provide effective protection. Alternative measures are safeguarding devices like light curtains, safety mats, gate interlocks and other similar devices connected to a safety system. The challenge to the machine designer and user is to determine what is “minor” and what is “routine, repetitive and integral.”

Subpart O covers “Machinery and Machine Guarding.” This subpart lists the general requirements for all machines as well as requirements for some specific machines. When OSHA was formed in 1970, it adopted many existing ANSI standards. For example B11.1 for mechanical power presses was adopted as 1910.217.

The 1910.212 is the general OSHA standard for machines. It states that one or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by the point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Guards shall be affixed to the machine where possible and secured elsewhere if for any reason attachment to the machine is not possible. The guard shall be such that it does not offer an accident hazard in itself.

The “point of operation” is the area on a machine where work is actually performed upon the material being processed. The point of operation of a machine, whose operation exposes an employee to injury, shall be guarded. The guarding device shall be in conformity with any appropriate standards or, in the absence of applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed as to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger zone during the operating cycle.

Subpart S (1910.399) states the OSHA electrical requirements. An installation or equipment is acceptable to the Assistant Secretary of Labor, and approved within the meaning of this Subpart S if it is accepted, certified, listed, labeled, or otherwise determined to be safe by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL).

What is Equipment? A general term including material, fittings, devices, appliances, fixtures, apparatus, and the like, used as a part of, or in connection with, an electrical installation.

What is “Listed”? Equipment is “listed” if it is of a kind mentioned in a list which, (a) is published by a nationally recognized laboratory which makes periodic inspection of the production of such equipment, and (b) states such equipment meets nationally recognized standards or has been tested and found safe for use in a specified manner.

As of August 2009, the following companies are recognized by OSHA as NRTLs:
Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
Communication Certification Laboratory, Inc. (CCL)
Curtis-Straus LLC (CSL)
FM Approvals LLC (FM)
Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. (ITSNA)
MET Laboratories, Inc. (MET)
NSF International (NSF)
National Technical Systems, Inc. (NTS)
SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc. (SGSUS)
Southwest Research Institute (SWRI)
TÜV America, Inc. (TÜVAM)
TÜV Product Services GmbH (TÜVPSG)
TÜV Rheinland of North America, Inc. (TÜV)
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL)
Wyle Laboratories, Inc. (WL)

Some states have adopted their own local OSHAs. Twenty-four states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have OSHA-approved State Plans and have adopted their own standards and enforcement policies. For the most part, these States adopt standards that are identical to Federal OSHA. However, some States have adopted different standards applicable to this topic or may have different enforcement policies.

Employers must report incident history to OSHA. OSHA compiles incident rates and transmits the information to local offices, and uses this information to prioritize inspections. The key inspection drivers are:


Violations of OSHA standards can result in fines. The schedule of fines is:


The table below shows the top 14 OSHA citations from October 2004 to September 2005.

Standard Description
1910.147 The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout)
1910.1200 Hazard communication
1910.212 General requirements for all machines
1910.134 Respiratory protection
1910.305 Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use
1910.178 Powered industrial trucks
1910.219 Mechanical power transmission
1910.303 General requirements
1910.213 Woodworking machinery
19102.215 Abrasive wheel machinery
19102.132 General requirements
1910.217 Mechanical power presses
1910.095 Occupational noise exposure
1910.023 Guarding floor and wall openings and holes
  
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