Machine shop hazards are related to the many processes used within the shop. For a better understanding of the common shop hazards, let’s list them by processes. We will list common machine shop processes and the hazards associated with them.

Receiving

The receiving clerk must unload the material from large trucks that material vendors have loaded. Stock material often arrives in bar form, with 12-foot lengths and larger being common. Bars are usually strapped together with metal bands, which prevent the load from shifting during transit. Depending on how the stock material was cut at the vendor, there may be sharp edges on the ends of the stock. When handling material, it is useful to have a pair of gloves to protect your hands from cuts due to sharp edges. The banks used to bind the stock are cut with snips, and these cut edges are very sharp. To mitigate the hazards from the sharp band edges, all banding should be gathered up and disposed of once the band has been cut.

Another hazard associated with managing materials is the weight involved with the quantities handled at a machine shop. When handling heavy materials, you must always be aware of falling objects.

Cutting

The need to cut stock to length creates many hazards. The band saw is the primary cutting tool used due to the saw’s ability to cut many different materials. Leather work gloves can protect your hands from the sharp edges created by the cutting process. The coolant used to lubricate the cut, as well as the quantity of chips created by the sawing process, can create slip hazards. If your skin is sensitive to cutting fluids, nitrile gloves are a good choice to protect your hands.

The saw stations create “drops“, which are the remnants of the original stock that are too short to be used for the intended purpose. These drops can accumulate and cause tripping hazards. Since stock is usually cut from long lengths, supports are used to align the long stock with the cutting surface. This long, supported stock can encroach on walking areas, creating a striking hazard for distracted workers. To help eliminate this hazard, avoid walking paths if possible when positioning the saw, cordon off the hazard area with flag tape, or at least place a brightly colored flag on the end of the stock to alert workers of the hazard.

Chips, Chips, Chips

Almost every process of a machine shop generates chips. Chips are the waste product produced from all cutting tools. If it is being cut, there are going to be chips. Our band saws produce chips, and grinders produce chips so small we refer to them as fines. Lathes and mills generate chips, and most of these have coolant on them, so we have to have a process to remove as much coolant as we can from the chips before throwing them away.

Most machine shops try to recoup some cost by recycling all scrap material, which includes chips. Aluminum, steels, brass, magnesium, stainless steel, and more all need to be placed into their collection bins. How can this possibly be discussed under safety, you may ask? The common hazards associated with chips are cuts. Secondary hazards associated with chips are trip hazards. Trip hazards are anything that contributes to losing your footing. Losing your footing can contribute to falls, sprains, and impacts with nearby equipment. To combat these hazards caused by the accumulation of chips, it is necessary to practice proper housekeeping. Housekeeping is a term used to express the general attitude of cleanliness around the shop. This may be one of the largest differences between machine shops. There are shops that sweep chips toward one wall and collect them once a week. Some shops have an apprentice whose job it is to clean up these messes. Hopefully, you will find that most machinists clean up after themselves on a regular basis and maintain good housekeeping standards around the shop.

Common shop tools used to maintain chips are brooms of varying sizes, dustpans and brushes. Figure 2.9 demonstrates a shadow board application for managing these tools.

Slip, Trip and Fall

Machine shops create slip trip and fall hazards by poor housekeeping. Spilling coolant or cutting fluid and not cleaning it up will often cause such an incident. Machines use liquids in their normal operation and most of them leak. These leaks, if not attended to, can create puddles that can cause a worker to lose footing and slip. Packing materials, pallets, boxes, banding, and tools that are not properly disposed of or stored properly can create hazards for tripping. Falling is usually the end result of a slip or trip. Workers can easily become distracted during the work day and not notice hazards while walking through a work center. Falling into or onto equipment can cause injury, or falling to the floor and landing hard can break bones and cause lacerations. It is everyone’s responsibility to create and maintain a risk-free work environment.

Attributions

1. Figure 2.8: Band Saw Cutting a Steel Bar by Tudor Barker is released under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
2. Figure 2.9: 2015 – Budapest – Machine Shop by Ted McGrath is released under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
3. Figure 2.10: The Most Frequent Factors in Slip, Trip and Fall Incidents by Nicholas Malara, for WA Open ProfTech, © SBCTC, CC BY 4.0