Chapter II: Literature Review

Chapter II: Literature Review

2.1 INTRODUCTION

A persistent lack of machine guarding hazards on Company XYZ building continues to manifest. Thus there is a need to establish strong safety measures to protect workers from exposure to preventable injuries and damages. Some of these accidents are life-threatening and have significantly caused severe injuries to employees, even death. Workers assigned in operation and machinery maintenance at Company XYZ suffer from crushing, abrasions, lacerations, amputations, and serious injuries each year. The government is usually strict with such issues. The issue is widely attributed to the lack of appropriate safety guard measures and safety management systems that can protect its most valuable assets, including its employees, from likelihood injuries and damage. The literature review section presents the most susceptible areas where machines’ hazards are likely to occur, requirements to safeguard the company’s valuable assets and employees, and machine guarding techniques.

2.2 GUARDS’ REQUIREMENTS

Potential hazards are caused by rotating and moving machinery parts when workers handle them without following the necessary measures. Safeguards have become essential for companies to protect their employees from preventable machinery-related damages and injuries. As a result, any machinery part, process, or function that may cause injury or damage must be safeguarded accordingly. Safeguarding these machinery parts will reduce subsequent injuries and losses incurred by a company, leading to proper operations and adherence to the country’s rules and regulations. For instance, where the operation and or maintenance of the machine can cause injuries to the vicinity workers, such hazards must be controlled or eliminated before it occurs.

In this case, guards must get installed on the machines and equipment. Consequently, companies must provide machine guarding to protect the workers or operators in the machine running areas from hazards, including those created by flying sparks and chips, ingoing nip points, point of operations, and rotating and moving parts. Ensuring proper machine guarding eliminates the risks of a company and employees. It reduces budgets allocated for compensation and treatment of workers injured by these parts during operations. Companies usually set budgets for such risks. Ensuring proper safeguarding reduces the risks associated with machine operations and a corresponding decrease in the amount budgeted for the risks. Companies are required to observe risk measures to enhance the safeguarding of workers while at work. They must adhere to the government’s standards to ensure that the working conditions are favorable for the employees. The most used examples of guarding methods include electronic devices for safety purposes, guards acting as barriers, and two-band tripping equipment. The guards should be well-fixed to the machine and secured, where applicable to the machine attached. They should be free from making any forms of accident hazards in themselves (OSHA, 2020).

Safeguarding refers to the machine guards designed and installed to prevent or minimize the chances that a worker or any employees working in the machinery’s vicinity will have an amputation injury or damage. Machine safeguarding must be supplemented by control and safety measures meant to ensure that workers are protected from hazardous sources during machinery operation and maintenance work activities (ILO, 2011). Companies should have safety departments and specialized employees to ensure strict measures and adherence to these company measures. A company with a safety team would achieve strict supervision to ensure every machine has the necessary safeguarding measures to reduce hazardous conditions in a company. Consequently, Guards must meet the following minimum requirements to ensure workers’ safety:

• Prevent Contact: the machine guards must be designed and installed to prevent workers’ arms, hands, legs, and any other body parts from getting into Contact with dangerous rotating and moving machinery parts.
• Should be secure: the operators must not tamper or easily remove the guard from the machinery. Safety devices and guards must be made out of durable material that will possibly survive any form of conditions of use and should be firmly secured to the equipment.
• Protect From Falling Objects: The machinery guards installed must ensure that no single objects can fall onto the rotating and moving parts.
• Safe Lubrication: any guards installed should be flexible to easily allow the operators to lubricate the machine without removing the guards.
• Create no Interference: any guards installed to prevent the operators from executing their task comfortably and quickly can soon be disregarded or overridden.

• Create No New Hazards in the Place:any guards installed should not create a hazard, such as a jagged edge, shear point, or an unfinished surface that can potentially cause a laceration.

A machine guard is a safety feature mounted or fixed around or on the machinery or equipment that consists of a device or shield covering the machine’s hazardous areas to prevent contact with the operator’s body parts from the manufacturing machine. The machine guard offers essential means to protect workers from potential injury or damage while operating the equipment or to work nearby machines. It prevents workers who operate the machine from accessing the dangerous parts of a machine to reduce these likely machinery injuries.

A guard acts as the first defense line to protect workers from any injuries while working on industrial equipment during normal machine operations. Workers usually cannot reach the dangerous parts of a machine when the guards get installed in a machine. In the United States, machinery guarding is referred typically to in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’ Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.212 (OSHA, 1970). In the United Kingdom, machinery safety is under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998 (Levine et al., 2012). The regulating bodies in these countries and other countries worldwide are necessary for ensuring the workers are in a safe and healthy working environment when executing their regular duties in a company.

2.3 MACHINE GUARDING TECHNIQUES

Machine guards are typically preferred to other control methods due to their physical barriers that enclose harmful and dangerous machinery parts and prevent workers from directly contacting them. To achieve safety, guards should be physically strong and fixed firmly through a secure technique that prevents the guards from being removed or inadvertently dislodged. Guards are usually designed with bolts, screws, and lock fasteners. Typically, a tool is required to loosen and remove them at any time when need be. The guards are designed not to obstruct the workers’ way of operations or prevent operators from successfully executing their tasks (Rockford System, 2020). A specialized team should undertake the role of inspecting the proximity of these safeguards through continued checks to ensure workers’ safety while in operation. Opening and tempering these safeguards should be left in the technical team’s hands but not authorized to any worker. In this case, it would ensure that workers do not temper with the guards while at work. In case of any inconvenience, the workers must contact the safety team for checks to ensure the guards get repaired if need be.

Since guards are barriers designed and installed to prevent workers’ access or exposure to dangerous areas, a company may decide to choose and implement the most effective and practical means of available machinery safeguarding (Thegibsonedge, 2014). Selecting an appropriate guard technique is advantageous to accompany since it reduces the risks a company would experience, reducing injuries and expenditure on such risks. There are currently four types of machine guards, namely; fixed, interlocked, adjustable, and self-adjusting guards, as explained below:

• Fixed Guard: as its name suggests, a machine fixed guard is designed and installed as a permanent part of the machine that cannot be removed by the operators. It does not usually depend on the rotating and moving machine parts to execute its intended roles (ILO, 2011). A fixed guard can be made of screen, bars, plastic, sheet metal, and any other type of materials strong enough to endure any form of impact received and sustain the prolonged use. It is one type of Guard typically preferable to all other remaining types due to its comparative permanence and simplicity (OSHA, 2020). A fixed guard acts as a barrier that protects hands or fingers from contact with the machine blade.
• Interlocking Guards: it is a guard designed to disengage or shuts off the power, intending to prevent machine start-up when Guard is open. It allows for the inching of equipment. In simple terms, when this machine guard is removed or opened, the power automatically disengages or shuts off, and the machine cannot work without fixing the Guard back to its position. When this Guard is removed, the equipment or machine will stop functioning (Thegibsonedge, 2014).

Adjustable Guards:

• Adjustable Guard has features that allow flexibility to facilitate several production operations and sizes of stock. It is designed to accommodate several specific applications. The guards can be adjusted to protect the workers from the unused portion of the machine blade (ILO, 2011). As the name suggests, this Guard is flexible in that it can be adjusted according to the size or volume of stock. For instance, the bars can be adjusted to accommodate the shape, size, and thickness of the stock.
• Self-Adjusting Guard: it is a type of Guard that offers a barrier that moves or rotates according to the size and volume of the stock entering a dangerous area. As the machine operator turns or rolls the stock into the danger areas, the machine guard automatically moves away, creating a broad and flexible opening to prevent contact with the danger parts (Thegibsonedge, 2014). After the removal of the stock, the Guard moves to its original position. This self-adjusting guard’s function is to protect the worker by placing a barrier between the person operating the machine and the danger area. This Guard can consist of metal, plastic, and other considerable materials (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2020).

Location/ Distance

To determine a part of a machine for use as Guard by location, the dangerous rotating or moving machinery parts must be well-positioned to keep these areas inaccessible and avoid causing hazards to machine operators during the normal operations of the equipment. A critical and thorough assessment of each machine and the specific condition is essential before attempting this guarding technique (ILO, 2011; Rockford System, 2020).

Awareness Barriers

Awareness barriers do not provide comprehensive protection from the equipment hazards; they can offer the operator an additional safety degree. An awareness barrier does not offer a physical guard or shield. However, it reminds a person that they are almost reaching or approaching the danger area (ILO, 2011). Usually, the awareness barriers are not considered suitable when frequent exposure to the hazards is in place (Thegibsonedge, 2014).

A broad range of mechanical actions and motions at the workplace may present severe hazards to workers. They include the reciprocating arms, moving belts, rotating objects, cutting teeth, messing gears, and other parts that can shears. The different forms of mechanical motions are necessary for all machines or equipment. Therefore, recognizing them is the best way to protect employees from severe potential hazards.

2.4 OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD PREVENTION AND CONTROL MEASURES 

Effective hazard control measures protect workers and companies from occupational hazards, including severe injuries, damage, likelihood accidents, illnesses, and minimize and eliminate health and safety risks. Thus, it helps employers to provide employees with safe and favorable working conditions. An occupational hazard control program comprises all steps necessary to ensure that all assets and workers are protected from exposure to physical, materials, biological, and chemical substances, systems, and other related types of hazards such as vibration and noise.

An occupational risk is defined as the probability of harm due to exposure to a workplace hazard. A well-documented occupational hazard prevention and hazard control program should clearly outline which best methods are being used to protect workers from hazard exposure and how these measures will be observed for effective control (CCOHS, 2020). The risk control program will help employers effectively prevent and control potential risks.

To successfully prevent and control occupational hazards, employers should do the following:

• Involve Workers: to be effective, a health and safety program designed needs the meaningful involvement of workers during the design and implementation phases. Since workers are the final user of these programs, they need to gain much from successful hazard prevention and control measures. However, this requires workers with relevant knowledge of the conditions that cause hazards and understand the necessary prevention measures. Besides, workers often know the most potential hazards associated with their workplace. As a result, effective health and safety programs incorporate this aspect. Workers’ involvement refers to the inclusion of employees in designing, establishing, assessing, and improving guidelines involving workplace health and safety. All workplace employees should participate or be represented, such as those employed by managers, sub-contractors, and temporary staff (OSHA, 2016).
• Top Management Leadership: the role of management is to provide leadership, direction, vision, and resources required for a successful implementation of health and safety measures. Top management refers to the business owners, top managers, and supervisors that make worker health and safety a core organizational value. The administration should commit to eliminating the current and potential hazards, engage in protecting workers, and continually enhancing health and safety at the workplace. They should also visibly demonstrate and communicate their health and safety commitment to all workplace personnel and vividly set an example through their actions (Degan, Lippiello & Pinzari, 2015; OSHA, 2016).

• Identify and Assess Occupational Hazards:on the site, the modification of the design of the project, the procedure of events, and the timeframe can lead to the occurrence of hazards. The identification and assessment of threats are critical for ensuring an effective health and safety program. One of the vital aspects that may lead to workers’ injuries, illnesses, and incidents is the failure to recognize and determine the current and potential hazards that a company could prevent (Johnston, 2000). A vital component of achieving effective health and safety measures is proactive, noting, and evaluating risks (Goelzer, 2001).

Measure for Preventing Hazards and Controlling Risks

Effective control measures ensure employees’ adequate protection from hazards by preventing damages, injuries, incidences and reducing and eliminating risks associated with employees’ health and safety (CCOHS, 2020; OSHA, 2016). Thus, employers should:

• Identity and assess possible options for preventing hazards through a hierarchy of risk control programs.
• Involve occupational workers with the best knowledge of the issues that could potentially cause hazards in design solutions
• Apply a hazard control hazard plan to guide the design and implementation of prevention and risk control programs, and adopt these controls according to the established plan.
• Design and develop a control plan that contains the necessary measures for protecting employees, especially in emergencies and daily non-routine activities.

• Assess how effective the current control measure is to determine whether they can have continued protection or apply a different control measure. Review the emerging technologies and implement the newly identified if they prove more reliable, and with increased security with less cost (OSHA, 2016).

Steps 1: Identify the Options for Practical Control

There is a wide range of information necessary for guiding employers to examine the several available options to control the occupational hazards they identify. Before determining and choosing any option for managing risks, employers need to evaluate their inputs’ effectiveness and feasibility.

How employers can achieve it

Employers should ensure proper collection, sorting, organization, and review of the necessary information by incorporating employees’ views to determine the available occupational hazards likely to affect workers in different ways. It may include:

• A critical examination of the essential measures for controlling hazards is available in other working environments and determine their effectiveness in the new workplace compared to the existing one.
• Review all information sources, including the standards and guidelines of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Industry consensus standards, the manufacturers’ reports, and engineering to identify potential necessary measures for controlling these aspects. Besides, keep update on the relevant information from professional and trade associations (OSHA, 2016).
• For some of the tricky occupational hazards, always engage and consult with health and safety experts, such as OSHA’s on-site consultation initiative.

• Pursue workers’ input, particularly the ones willing to participate in the suggesting and assessing possible solutions depending on their extent of knowledge concerning the workplace, machinery, processes, and equipment.

Steps 2: Select control measures

To achieve this, employers should consider identity and select the best control measures that are the most permanent, feasible, and effective (OSHA, 2016).

How to achieve it

• Effectively apply interim hazard control measures, and develop and implement long-term solutions.
• Eliminate and prevent all severe and complicated hazards, especially risks currently causing or most likely to cause death and severe physical harm.
• Employers should always avoid selecting hazard control measures that may cause new hazards. For instance, exhausting contaminated air into a working environment, or using hearing protection, making difficulties in hearing back-up safety alarms.
• Identity and choose hazard control measures based on a hierarchy that emphasizes engineering solutions, such as substitution or elimination. It should be first followed by administrative hazard control measures, safe work practices, and lastly, personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Combine the available options necessary for enhancing risk control if the absence of a system is available for protecting workers on site.

• Review and evaluate the available options for controlling hazards to ensure they are feasible and effective.

Step 3: Establish and Update Plans for Hazard Control 

An established plan for controlling hazards should demonstrate the application of the selected risk control measures. A well-developed outline will ultimately give priority to complex threats. Interim hazard controls may become necessary. However, the objective is to achieve a successful and long-term method for controlling risks. Therefore, it becomes essential to monitor the progress in implementing the control plan and conduct periodic verification to ensure these measures remain effective (OSHA, 2016).

How to implement it

• Successfully plan how to verify the effectiveness of the hazard control measures immediately after implementation.
• List the hazards that require control measures in order of their priority
• Allocate roles for implementing the hazard control measures to competent personnel with the ability and power to implement these measures.
• Plan the methods of racking the progress toward implementation.
• Determine and set a date for completion and implementation.

Step 4: Identify and select the best hazard controls to protect workers during emergencies and non-routine operations

The risk control plan selected or implemented should cover the provisions to protect workers during predictable anticipated emergencies and non-routine operations. Basing facility and type of work, these can include explosions, fires, hazardous material spills, infrequent maintenance activities, chemical releases (Johnston, 2000), unplanned machinery and equipment shutdowns, workplace violence, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, disease outbreaks, and health emergencies (Degan, Lippiello & Pinzari, 2015). Non-routine operations or workers should be provided with safety cautions. Before starting such tasks, they should always review job risk analyses and task safety analyses with the responsible workers and notify the team concerning the type of task, the work schedule, and any other vital precautions (OSHA, 2016).

How to implement it

• Establish practical protocols to control hazards that may occur during non-routine operations, such as removing machinery guards during repair or equipment maintenance.
• Establish or modify control plans to prevent hazards that may occur in any emergencies.
• Purchase any machinery necessary to control emergency-related occupational risks
• Assign duties for accomplishing the emergency control plans
• Carry out emergency drills to ensure that equipment and protocols designed provide suitable protection during any emergencies.

Step 5: Utilize selected hazard control measures on the site

After the assessment of the protocols for preventing and controlling risks, they require implementation based on the established control plan for managing hazards (CCOHS, 2020; OSHA, 2016).

How to implement it

• Effectively apply the hazard control protocols based on the priorities developed in the plan selected for controlling hazards.
• In case the company has limited resources, employ ‘a worst-first’ basis to implement the measures for controlling risks based on the priorities developed during the identification and evaluation stage for hazards.

• Implement the available control measures on time if expensive and simple, such as housekeeping and removing the tripping hazards identified, including essential lighting, despite the hazard’s nature.

Step 6: Make a follow-up to ascertain that hazard controls are effective.

To achieve the efficiency of hazard control measures, employers must promptly track progress in implementing these control protocols, inspect and assess control measures once they get implemented (Goelzer, 2001; OSHA, 2016), and make follow-ups on the maintenance standards that require routine checks.

How to implement it

• Always monitor the progress and ensure validation of the implementation by incorporating the following questions:

1. Is there adequate implementation and testing of the engineering hazard control protocols?
2. Is there proper installation of all the hazard control plans based on the hazard control measures?
3. Has the company conducted proper training for all workers and clearly understood the hazard control measures, including safe work practices, operating engineering controls, and PPE user requirements?
4. Is there consistent and accurate utilization of all the hazard control measures?

• Carry out regular inspections, including industrial hygiene monitoring, to ascertain whether the engineering controls work as developed or not.
• Assess the hazard control protocols to establish whether they are working as designed or need some modifications or not. At this level, involve responsible workers in the whole assessment process. When the implemented control measures prove not effective or work as designed, identify, select, and implement more hazard control plans that will ultimately offer satisfactory protection.
• Ensure that work practices, PPE, and administrative control measures use the current policies and adhere to standards.
• Carry out routine preventive maintenance of facilities, machinery, equipment, and controls to prevent the workers from potential incidents due to facility or machinery failure.

Conclusively, excellent and favorable workplace safety and health standards often start with the top management. Employers, including company directors and board members, have an individual and collective role for workers’ safety and health, regardless of the business’s size. As a result, controlling and managing the workers’ health and safety is a central part of managing the whole business. To achieve this, business organizations must conduct a risk assessment to ascertain the level, nature, and likelihood of the hazards in their workplace and establish risk control protocols to effectively protect them to ensure no harm is exposed to workers.