Does "Subpart O - Machinery and Machine Guarding" Apply to You?

Subpart O provides the requirements for machinery and machine guarding. Do you have machinery and equipment that exposes employees to hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks? If yes, then this subpart applies to you. Subpart O provides the general requirements for all machines which includes requirements for having guarding affixed to machinery, point of operation guarding, anchoring fixed equipment, guarding fan blades and using special hand tools for machinery and equipment. Guarding methods include barrier guards, restraints, presence sensing devices, two-hand tripping devices, foot controls, and pullbacks. Also reference subpart P for requirements pertaining to hand and portable powered tools and other hand-held equipment. Definitions for subpart O include: 

Point of operation means that point at which cutting, shaping, boring, or forming is accomplished upon the stock and shall include such other points as may offer a hazard to the operator in inserting or manipulating the stock in the operation of the machine.

Holdout or restraint device means a mechanism, including attachments for operator's hands, that when anchored and adjusted prevent the operator's hands from entering the point of operation.

Pull-out device means a mechanism attached to the operator's hands and connected to the upper die or slide of the press, that is designed, when properly adjusted, to withdraw the operator's hands as the dies close, if the operator's hands are inadvertently within the point of operation.

Two hand control device means a two hand trip that further requires concurrent pressure from both hands of the operator during a substantial part of the die-closing portion of the stroke of the press.

Fixed barrier guard means a die space barrier attached to the press frame.

Adjustable barrier guard means a barrier requiring adjustment for each job or die setup.

This subpart also includes specific standards for other machinery and equipment. Do employees use woodworking machinery? Do employees use abrasive wheel machinery? Do employees use forging machines? Do employees use mills and calenders in the rubber and plastics industries? Do employees use mechanical power presses? Do you have mechanical power-transmission apparatuses (i.e., belts, shafting, pulleys)? If yes, then click on the tabs below for more information. 

 

 

Subpart O - Machinery and Machine Guarding

Tab/Accordion Items

If yes, then you need to comply with the standards for woodworking machinery. Woodworking machinery includes rip saws, circular saws, hand-fed ripsaws, hand-fed crosscut table saws, circular resaws, swing cut-off saws, self-feed circular saws, radial saws, bandsaws and band resaws, jointers, tenoning machines, wood shapers and similar equipment, boring and mortising machines, planing, molding, sticking, and matching machines, sanding machines, profile and swing-head lathes and wood heel turning machine, veneer cutters and wringers, and miscellaneous woodworking machines.

This standard provides specific requirements for the different listed pieces of equipment and includes requirements pertaining to machine controls, specific guards, nonkickback fingers or dogs, hood enclosures, adjustable stops, tension control devices, inspections and maintenance, lubricating bearings, sharpening and tensioning saw blades, push sticks, and push blocks. You will also need to comply with the standards on general requirements for all machines and if portable tools, guarding of portable powered tools

Push stick means a narrow strip of wood or other soft material with a notch cut into one end and which is used to push short pieces of material through saws.

Block means a short block of wood, provided with a handle similar to that of a plane and a shoulder at the rear end, which is used for pushing short stock over revolving cutters.

For additional related information, refer to the A-Z safety and health topics pages for machine guardingamputations and personal protective equipment.

If yes, then you need to comply with the standard on abrasive wheel machinery. It provides general and specific requirements for abrasive wheel machinery pertaining to safety guards, flanges, and mounting (i.e., ring test, inspection, surface condition). You will also need to comply with the standards on general requirements for all machines and if portable tools, guarding of portable powered tools. It also references consensus standards incorporated by reference for use and care of abrasive wheels. 

Abrasive wheel means a cutting tool consisting of abrasive grains held together by organic or inorganic bonds. Diamond and reinforced wheels are included.

Safety guard means an enclosure designed to restrain the pieces of the grinding wheel and furnish all possible protection in the event that the wheel is broken in operation. 

For additional related information, refer to the A-Z safety and health topics pages for machine guarding, abrasive wheelsamputations and personal protective equipment. Additional assistance for consensus standards can be obtained by contacting the NCDOL Library

If yes, then you need to comply with the standards on forging machines. This standard provides general requirements pertaining to inspections, maintenance, training personnel, personal protective equipment, hammers (i.e., gravity, power-driven), presses (i.e., forging, trimming), certification records, upsetters (i.e., lockouts, manually operated controls, dies), and other forging equipment (i.e., billet shears, saws, conveyors, grinding (reference abrasive wheel machinery), shot blast). It also references consensus standards incorporated by reference for use and care of conveyors and abrasive wheels. 

A forging machine presses down on metal to create a specific shape. It is also referred to as a press or punch press.

Forging presses mean a class of forging equipment wherein the shaping of metal between dies is performed by mechanical or hydraulic pressure, and usually is accomplished with a single workstroke of the press for each die station.

Die means the tooling used in a press for cutting or forming material. An upper and a lower die make a complete set.

Upsetters (or forging machines, or headers) type of forging equipment, related to the mechanical press, in which the main forming energy is applied horizontally to the workpiece which is gripped and held by prior action of the dies.

Trimming presses mean a class of auxiliary forging equipment which removes flash or excess metal from a forging. This trimming operation can also be done cold, as can coining, a product sizing operation.

For additional related information, refer to the A-Z safety and health topics pages for powered press brakesmachine guardingabrasive wheelsamputations and personal protective equipment. Additional assistance for consensus standards can be obtained by contacting the NCDOL Library

If yes, are you in the rubber and plastics industry? If yes, then mills and calenders in the rubber and plastics industries applies to you. This standard provides requirements pertaining to mill safety controls, calendar safety controls, protection by location, trip and emergency switches, and stopping limits. In addition, it references complying with subpart S - electrical for installation of mechanical and electrical equipment and auxiliaries.

Calender means a machine equipped with two or more metal rolls revolving in opposite directions and used for continuously sheeting or plying up rubber and plastics compounds and for frictioning or coating materials with rubber and plastics compounds.

Mill means a machine consisting of two adjacent metal rolls, set horizontally, which revolve in opposite directions (i.e., toward each other as viewed from above) used for the mechanical working of rubber and plastics compounds.

Trip or (tripping) means activation of the clutch to "run" the press.

For additional related information, refer to the A-Z safety and health topics pages for machine guardingelectrical safetyamputations and personal protective equipment.

Before you answer yes, this standard does not apply to press brakes, hydraulic and pneumatic power presses, bulldozers, hot bending and hot metal presses, forging presses and hammers, riveting machines and similar types of fastener applicators. Based on the above, do you have mechanical power presses? If yes, then you need to comply with the standard for mechanical power presses. It provides general requirements pertaining to guarding and construction of press; safeguarding the point of operation; the design, construction, setting and feeding of dies; inspection, maintenance and modification of presses; operation of power presses; reports of injuries to employees operating mechanical power presses; presence sensing device initiation (PSDI); and operating training (i.e., certification records). In addition, appendices A, B, C and D provide additional information regarding PSDI pertaining to validations, certification, and other guidance. 

A mechanical power press shears, punches, forms, or assembles metal or other materials by means of tools or dies attached to slides or rams. Metalworking occurs by placing stock on a bottom die and striking it with a top die. The top die is attached to a crankshaft with connecting rods and rotation of the crankshaft is accomplished from a motor, flywheel, and gear power transmission.

Point of operation means that point at which cutting, shaping, boring, or forming is accomplished upon the stock and shall include such other points as may offer a hazard to the operator in inserting or manipulating the stock in the operation of the machine.

Presence sensing device means a device designed, constructed and arranged to create a sensing field or area that signals the clutch/brake control to deactivate the clutch and activate the brake of the press when any part of the operator's body or a hand tool is within such field or area.

Die means the tooling used in a press for cutting or forming material. An upper and a lower die make a complete set.

Additional information can be found on the A-Z safety and health topics page for mechanical power press, machine guardingamputations and personal protective equipment.

Do you have belts, pulleys, shafting, flywheels, ropes, chains, gears, sprockets, keys, set screws, fasteners, collars, couplings, clutches and other similar apparatus? If yes, you need to comply with the standard on mechanical power-transmission apparatus. It provides general requirements such as guards, location, pulley speeds, servicing, use of approved materials, guardrails and toeboards, inspections, and lubrication.

For additional related information, refer to the A-Z safety and health topics pages for machine guardingwalking and working surfacesamputations and personal protective equipment.