Session: 14-01-01: General Topics on Risk, Safety, and Reliability I

Paper Number: 150722

150722 - Addressing Machine Hazard Mitigation Through Risk Assessment 

Each year workers in the United States are seriously and sometimes fatally injured during the operation, maintenance and servicing of machinery. Workplace safety requirements for machinery are established and enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA requires employers to provide a safe and healthy place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to the employees. OSHA regulations published in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1910 (29 CFR 1910) establish safety rules to protect workers while performing such tasks as machine operation, maintenance and servicing. Relative to machine operation, OSHA regulations establish machine guarding provisions to protect machine operators and those working in close proximity to hazards associated with the point of operation, in-running nip points, rotating components, flying chips and sparks. OSHA also requires that workers are trained on the proper operation and maintenance of machines. In 2019, OSHA revised its National Emphasis Program (NEP)[1] for enforcement related to amputations in manufacturing.[2] This NEP focuses on the employers’ responsibility for enforcing machine guarding regulations intended to reduce or eliminate amputation hazards.

 

Voluntary, consensus industry standards on machine safety have established a risk-based approach for protecting workers against machinery hazards. In 2000, The Association for Manufacturing Technology through the American National Standards Institute, Inc. (ANSI) offered, as a technical report, a risk assessment and risk reduction guide for machine tools. As the first guide for machine tool risk assessment published by a major national standards organization, it described a risk-based approach to reduce safety hazards during the design, construction, care and use of machine tools. In this technical report, responsibilities were assigned to both the supplier and user. Tolerable risk was defined as “Risk that is accepted for a given task and hazard combination [hazardous situation].”^[3] The intent of the report was to guide “suppliers and users to analyze and reduce risks associated with hazards generated by machines and associated equipment”[4] to a tolerable risk level. This ANSI technical report was followed by an industry standard first offered in 2010 that included risk reduction methods and procedures to reduce the risk to an acceptable level with responsibilities assigned to users and suppliers, which included manufacturers, reconstructors and modifiers. This industry standard states that “safe” is a condition free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause physical harm and concludes that “there is no machine that is absolutely safe.”^[5] According to the 2010 standard, the outcome of the risk assessment process should be: a) a clear understanding of risk(s) including the potential severity of harm and the probability of the occurrence of harm; b) machinery with risks reduced to an acceptable level; c) risk reduction measures appropriate to the circumstances; and d) documentation of the risk assessment.

 

In this study, will analyze workplace injury data including both fatal and nonfatal incidents associated with machine operation, maintenance, and servicing to better understand the trends and quantify risks associated with the machine use. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics data (for a 10-year period) and OSHA severe injury and fatality reports will be reviewed in this effort. The effort will also discuss the requirements for addressing machine safety through a summary of the OSHA regulations and a review of the ANSI B11.0 industry standards risk assessment approach.

 

[1] National Emphasis Programs (NEPs) are temporary programs that focus OSHA's resources on particular hazards and high-hazard industries.

[2] https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/directives/CPL_03-00-022.pdf

[3] ANSI B11.TR3-2000

[4] ANSI B11.TR3-2000

[5] ANSI B11.0-2020

Presenting Author: Eugenia Kennedy Exponent

Presenting Author Biography: Eugenia Kennedy, CSP: Eugenia Kennedy is a Principal in Exponent’s Mechanical Engineering practice. She holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in mechanical engineering. Ms. Kennedy is a Certified Safety Professional. She has received the Safety and Health Specialist Certificates in General Industry, Construction Industry and Industrial Hygiene from the OSHA Training Institute Education Center.

Authors:

Eugenia Kennedy Exponent
Amin Ajdari Exponent
Okanmisope Fashanu Exponent