OSHA Standards
Optinet Suggested Considerations Drawn From Our experience :
(Disclaimer: The machine designer must refer to the proper standards to
assure compliance with health and safety regulations)
1. Design the machine for safe and healthy operation as if you will be the
operator
2. Machines should be designed to meet health and safety standards even though
they may not be part of the buyer specifications.
3. Protect pinch points by positive guards
4. Use clearly visible labels to warn of danger including for example:
radiation, magnetic flux, moving parts
5. Design the machine for ergonomic accessibility to all parts which need
service or replacement
6. Provide means to handle heavy parts within the machine
7. Provide emergency buttons at several locations around the machine
8. Use Fail Safe design concepts, where brakes for examples are normally closed
and need power to open
9. Use counterbalance for loads operating in vertical axes
10. Use dynamic braking to attenuate high velocity in emergency stops
11. Use interlocks to assure that protective guards are in place prior to
machine operation
12. Use proper grounding, insulation and shielding of electrical power cables
13. Use shielding from various forms of hazards such as temperature, chemicals,
radiation, shock, vibration, chips, rotating or moving parts
14. Design shipping brackets for locking all free parts
15. Design lifting eye bolt with a minimum safety factor of 5
16. Design the machine structural frame for a safe and stable lifting by fork
lift or a crane
17. Provide means for Seismic Anchors
18. Design hard stops to absorb the kinetic energy of a moving mass ( 1/2 * M *
Vmax^2 ) with a minimum safety factor of 5
19. Provide machine operation manual for safe operation and maintenance
20. Conduct a design review considering "What If" scenario of worse case abuse
of machine operation by the operator and use common sense in
protecting him/her from injury and your company from a possible
lawsuit.