Machine Guarding Safety
Rite-Hite's machine guarding solutions prioritize employee and equipment safety while meeting rigorous industry standards. These solutions, designed to enhance operational productivity, demonstrate our commitment to safety and efficiency in industrial environments where people and machinery meet. Used at the loading dock, or inside the plant, our machine guarding products help contain hazards to help reduce risk in your facility.
Safety. Containment. Productivity.
The general requirements of all machines according to OSHA code 29 CFR 1910.212(a)(3)(ii)*, states that the point of operation of machines, whose operation exposes an employee to injury, shall be guarded. Identifying the need for hazard containment and the need to protect employees and equipment is important in many industrial facilities. What are the basics of machine guarding? Ask yourself the following:
- Do the safeguards provided meet the minimum OSHA requirements?
- Do the safeguards prevent workers’ hands, arms, and other body parts from making contact with dangerous moving parts?
- Do the safeguards permit safe, comfortable, and relatively easy operation of the machine?
- Is there a point-of-operation safeguard provided for the machine?
- Are safeguards provided for all hazardous moving parts of the machine including auxiliary parts?
Common applications and processes that require guarding include:
- Production lines
- Cutting systems
- Conveyor Systems
- Packaging machinery
- VRCs and AGVs
- Paper and paper converting manufacturing.
- Material handling
- Palletizing applications
- Stretch wrap machines
- Machine tools for metals, wood and other material manufacturing.
- Textile manufacturing
- Ceramics machines
- Packing machines
- Plastic molding machines.
- CNC routing and cutting.
- Winding and unwinding machines.
- Transfer lines
- AS/RS
- Robots and factory automation.
Whatever the situation, OSHA states that the guarding device shall be in conformity with any appropriate standards, therefore, or in the absence of applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger zone during the operating cycle.
The Rite Solution. Our machine guarding solutions range from automated barrier doors such as the Guardian Defender and the VertiGuard to Roll Up Curtains like the Slide-Air. Because you can locate a retractable safety door closer to a hazard, you can reduce the footprint of a manufacturing cell and provide a clear visual cue for the operator to be on task. With the added benefit of containing secondary hazards associated with the manufacturing process employees are guarded from discharge, flying debris, etc.