Machine Safety
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Join this ongoing discussion of machine guarding topics, including solutions assessments, regulatory compliance, gap analysis, operating efficiencies and cost savings, as well as all relevant safety standards, such as those from NFPA, ANSI, RIA, IEC, ISO and OSHA.
Machine Safety: Functional safety and the steps to be compliant in the U.S.
April 17, 2012
Who has the steps identified for anyone considering moving their machine safety compliance to functional safety for their organization? Let’s assume for this discussion that functional safety means being compliant with EN ISO 13849-1. » more
( 1 Comment )
April 17, 2012
Who has the steps identified for anyone considering moving their machine safety compliance to functional safety for their organization? Let’s assume for this discussion that functional safety means being compliant with EN ISO 13849-1. » more
( 1 Comment )
Machine Guarding: Trouble shooting old systems is doomed with iPad skills
April 17, 2012
Do today's new hires have what it takes? Over the past 10 years machine safety has experienced probably the greatest transformation since the advent of machine control technology, which sets the stage for an organizational skills gap discussion. Are the skilled trades persons entering industry over the past ten years equipped to evaluate and trouble shoot... » more
( 2 Comments )
April 17, 2012
Do today's new hires have what it takes? Over the past 10 years machine safety has experienced probably the greatest transformation since the advent of machine control technology, which sets the stage for an organizational skills gap discussion. Are the skilled trades persons entering industry over the past ten years equipped to evaluate and trouble shoot... » more
( 2 Comments )
Machine Safety: The missing ah-ha for plant management
March 29, 2012
Isn’t the machine a hazard as well as the individual hazards on a machine? Last week I blogged about risk assessments, the mitigation process, and how the new methodologies have migrated from qualitative to quantitative approaches. Since designers have engineering tools to design out hazards. Managers need reliable tools to designate an individual hazard... » more
( No Comments )
March 29, 2012
Isn’t the machine a hazard as well as the individual hazards on a machine? Last week I blogged about risk assessments, the mitigation process, and how the new methodologies have migrated from qualitative to quantitative approaches. Since designers have engineering tools to design out hazards. Managers need reliable tools to designate an individual hazard... » more
( No Comments )
Machine Safety: Does it matter, the Aggregate Hazard Level for a machine?
March 23, 2012
When conducting a risk assessment of the machine’s individual identified hazards does the safety level of the complete machine or system matter? Does anyone have a solution for determining the aggregate level of an entire machine? Does anybody care? » more
( No Comments )
March 23, 2012
When conducting a risk assessment of the machine’s individual identified hazards does the safety level of the complete machine or system matter? Does anyone have a solution for determining the aggregate level of an entire machine? Does anybody care? » more
( No Comments )
Machine Safety: Are you staying on target?
March 15, 2012
Is changing my machine safety strategy necessary? What if your safety target has shifted? Have there been evolutional changes to industrial safety but your safety culture is mired in the past? Are there newer machine guarding solutions that are more cost effective? To stay on target consider updates to your safety culture and your machine guarding solutions... » more
( No Comments )
March 15, 2012
Is changing my machine safety strategy necessary? What if your safety target has shifted? Have there been evolutional changes to industrial safety but your safety culture is mired in the past? Are there newer machine guarding solutions that are more cost effective? To stay on target consider updates to your safety culture and your machine guarding solutions... » more
( No Comments )
Machine Safety: System degradation and incidence of injury
February 17, 2012
Are older hardwired safety systems less safe than newer integrated safety systems? (See table.) Since 2002 when integrated safety automation was introduced for machine safety, a growing awareness has emerged questioning the effectiveness over time of a hardwired / hardware safety system versus an integrated safety system. What is the ultimate effectiveness... » more
( No Comments )
February 17, 2012
Are older hardwired safety systems less safe than newer integrated safety systems? (See table.) Since 2002 when integrated safety automation was introduced for machine safety, a growing awareness has emerged questioning the effectiveness over time of a hardwired / hardware safety system versus an integrated safety system. What is the ultimate effectiveness... » more
( No Comments )
Machine Safety: ISO 13849-1 compliance is mandatory for robot applications, ANSI/RIA/ISO 10218-1&2: 2011
February 07, 2012
Are you aware that our consensus standard for robots (RIA 15.06) has changed and now calls out normative compliance requirements to ISO 13849-1: 2006? How many machine safety domestic standards have made this transition? Does anybody know? (See related link added June 4.) » more
( No Comments )
February 07, 2012
Are you aware that our consensus standard for robots (RIA 15.06) has changed and now calls out normative compliance requirements to ISO 13849-1: 2006? How many machine safety domestic standards have made this transition? Does anybody know? (See related link added June 4.) » more
( No Comments )
Machine Safety: NFPA 70E and international requirements
January 30, 2012
Machine Safety has several different focused areas of potential hazards. One of the areas getting a lot of attention is Arc Flash and NFPA 70E. A recent article published by Control Engineering earlier this month had some startling results. An alarming 72% of respondents (302) “always” plus “mostly” regularly violate NFPA 70E while working on control... » more
( 2 Comments )
January 30, 2012
Machine Safety has several different focused areas of potential hazards. One of the areas getting a lot of attention is Arc Flash and NFPA 70E. A recent article published by Control Engineering earlier this month had some startling results. An alarming 72% of respondents (302) “always” plus “mostly” regularly violate NFPA 70E while working on control... » more
( 2 Comments )
Machine Safety: Without an injury, OSHA issues citations for more than $1 million
January 23, 2012
Whoa, OSHA issues fines for $1,013,000. following a complaint filed by a worker. OSHA investigated the manufacturer and discovered 13 Serious and 17 Willful violations of Regulations. Was this Company just waiting to be caught in violation or were these violations a result of their safety culture. You decide! » more
( 1 Comment )
January 23, 2012
Whoa, OSHA issues fines for $1,013,000. following a complaint filed by a worker. OSHA investigated the manufacturer and discovered 13 Serious and 17 Willful violations of Regulations. Was this Company just waiting to be caught in violation or were these violations a result of their safety culture. You decide! » more
( 1 Comment )
Machine Safety: How safe is safe enough?
January 12, 2012
In machine guarding, how safe is safe enough? Over my 40 years in industry I’ve heard this comment many times. Is this attitude driven by “safety culture” or is it just a product of qualitative risk management? Is this why risk management for machine guarding and functional safety is advancing globally to quantitatively derived engineering and validation? » more
( No Comments )
January 12, 2012
In machine guarding, how safe is safe enough? Over my 40 years in industry I’ve heard this comment many times. Is this attitude driven by “safety culture” or is it just a product of qualitative risk management? Is this why risk management for machine guarding and functional safety is advancing globally to quantitatively derived engineering and validation? » more
( No Comments )
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