Machine Guarding Draft

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Machinery Guarding

At Safety Systems Technology, we have extensive experience of decades in the design and installation of machinery guarding to enhance workplace safety and improve manufacturing effiency. We work with a wide range customers in manufacturing, heavy industry and logistics. All the systems we install comply with ISO, EN and UK standards, and are UKCA/CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity.

From ready-to-use modular systems to bespoke designs, we offer an array of solutions, tailored to fit the machinery and operating environment in your facility. We guarantee maximum safety and compliance with all our machinery guarding solutions.

What is Machine Guarding and Why Is It Essential?

Guarding machinery in manufacturing, materials processing and logistical facilities is a legal requirement. However, effective machine guarding is about much more than simply complying with PUWER Regulations.

Effective guarding protects your workforce, reduces unplanned stoppages, improves operating efficiency and demonstrates due diligence to stakeholders.

Machine guards can come in different forms, such as physical barriers, gates, doors and interlocking devices. These guards are designed to control access and mitigate hazards during operation.

Types of Machine Guards in UK Manufacturing

Below are the main types of machine guards we find that customers need, each suited to specific operational needs and access requirements.

Fixed Guards

Fixed guards are sturdy, permanently attached barriers between workers and hazardous parts of machinery. These guards are designed to be removed only with the use of tools and so best suited to areas of a facility or machine where worker access is not frequently required.

Interlocked Guards

Interlocked guards connect directly with machine’s electrical safety control system. When an interlocked guard is opened, or removed, the interlock mechanism automatically stops the machine or prevents it from operating so ensuring that that workers cannot access hazardous parts while the machine is running. Unlike fixed guards, interlocked guards are the best solution for areas that do require frequent access, e.g. for tool changes, routine maintenance or cleaning.

Adjustable Guards

Manually adjustable guards are designed to give effective protection to workers where regular if not continual access to machinery required as part of an operating process. These guards are commonly found on machine tools such as drills, milling machines, and saws, where direct access to the working machine is required. Adjustable guards allow for versatile operation while ensuring that only the minimum necessary opening to moving parts is exposed, reducing the risk of accidental contact.

Self-Adjusting Guards

These guards are also adjustable but unlike a manually adjustable guard, a self-adjusting guard adjusts itself as the workpiece is fed into a machine to provide a continuous barrier, closing off access to dangerous areas except where the material enters. This type of guard is widely used on equipment such as circular saws and other woodworking machinery, where materials of varying dimensions are processed.

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From an initial survey and risk assessment through to meticulous installation and on-site commissioning to ongoing management assessment and preventative maintenance, our end-to-end service ensures effective, compliant, sustainable operational machinery guarding efficiency.

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The Process

Effective machine guarding is more than just about installing a guard. We often find when guards are installed without consideration of how operators work and of the workflows in a given environment, that operational effectiveness is compromised. This can result in workers then compromising the integrity of the guard in order to keep up with production schedules.

Decades of experience of working with customers in many different environments has shown us that taking a comprehensive view of the safety requirements in a facility provides effective, efficient, sustainable and cost-effective machine guarding.

We work with customers to provide a total machine guarding solution following a five part process:

A comprehensive site survey and risk assessment is undertaken in collaboration with customers’ safety officers and maintenance teams to identify every potential hazard.
We recommend a scope of work required to provide effective and efficient guarding.
With this agreed, we move to design and once approved, then to
fabrication, ensuring that guard dimensions, materials and finish suit the intended environment. We are able to use commercial off the shelf guarding solutions, customise these or develop completely bespoke systems.
Installation is planned around a customer’s production schedule. We work independently but with clear and regular communication with safety managers and maintenance teams.

We supply clear documentation at each stage of the process, from the initial survey and risk assessment, through recommendations, design and certification.

Experience Across Sectors

At Safety Systems Technology, we have extensive experience of supplying machine guarding to facilities in very diverse range of industries. We’ve installed guarding for and continue to provide industry safety solutions to business from heavy industry to food tech, from polymer processing to pharmaceuticals, from logistics warehouses to scientific research laboratories. No machinery, environment internal or external phases us!

Compliance

Our customers rely on our comprehensive knowledge and practical understanding of compliance regulations. All of our machinery guarding systems are compliant with Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998 and the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 and fully satisfy essential health and safety requirements as regulated by the UK Government Health and Safety Executive.