Unguarded Machines and Equipment
One of the biggest hazards for those workers in meatpacking, poultry and food processing is unguarded machines and equipment. Workers’ fingers, arms, hair, and other body parts can be caught or entangled in unguarded machine parts or equipment. Protective clothing worn by most meatpacking, poultry and food processing workers, such as gloves, frocks, aprons and rain gear, can be caught and pull the worker into the machine. Finally, sanitation workers in the meatpacking, poultry and food processing industries are also at risk when they use hoses that can be caught and pull their arms into a moving, unguarded machine.
Machine guards are used to prevent any possible contact between moving parts of a machine and the worker. They are also used to contain fragments and particles released by a machine.
The OSHA law states the following:
“One or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.” (29 CFR 1910.212)
In other words, if any worker can possibly come in contact with any moving part of a machine—such as a blade, sprocket, chain, rotating shaft or shaft end—or can be injured by a flying part, there must be a guard on that machine or machine part.
PPE, such as safety glasses, may also be required, but does not replace the need for a machine guard.
Types of Guards
There are at least five important places in food processing machinery that must be guarded. They include:
Point of Operation
The area on a machine where work is actually being performed. Example: A screw auger rotating and moving product, or the blade of a saw.
The area where two machine parts come together. Example: Two rollers moving counter clockwise to each other create a nip point.
Any point, other than the point of operation, at which it is possible for a part of the body to be caught between the moving parts, or moving and stationary parts, of machinery.
Power Transmission Components
These components include sprockets, chains, flywheels, pulleys, gears, shafts, and wheels.
Any Rotating Part of a Machine or Piece of Equipment
Rotating parts can catch hair, pieces of clothing, or a body part like a finger, resulting in amputations or death when a worker is pulled into the machine. Rotating parts include drive shafts, wheels, revolving drums or barrels. The projecting end of a rotating shaft also must be guarded.