Introduction
In Ontario today people are still becoming injured, sick or killed as a result of hazards around machinery
and equipment in every industry. Many of these accidents are caused by human error.
There are numerous potential hazards around machinery and equipment, such as cutting edges, gears,
chains, revolving shafts, rotating blades and levers.
Safety Hazards
Contact with moving parts
Contact with electricity, heat, fire, cold, other energies
Contact with pressurized gas or liquid
Health Hazards
Contact with harmful chemicals
Contact with harmful noise, radiation, vibration
Lack of adequate workplace ergonomics: handling and process design
Harmful actions to the environment and community
Safety Hazards
Where?
At the controls: starting or stopping, set-up, adjusting.
Where you feed materials into the machine: loading, cleaning.
Where the machine cuts, turns, drills, shapes, punches, or moves in any way: cleaning and
maintenance, trouble shooting and repair, adjusting, setting up.
At the gears, wheels, cylinders, belts, rollers, chains, cables, sprockets, cams: cleaning and
maintenance, trouble shooting and repair, adjusting, setting up.
Around lift trucks, tractors, harvesters and moving equipment.
Around conveyors, elevators, and shredders.
Around any machinery and equipment that can release energy (e.g., hydraulic systems).
Machine Safety
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