Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
You have two basic options for safeguarding your machinery: guards and safety shields.
Great! So, what are they? How are they different? And how do you know you’re using the proper safety equipment in your shop?
Let’s examine what it takes to protect your most valuable assets—your employees—with proper safety shields and guards.
Safety Shields
Machine safety shields are pivotal in protecting machine operators from injury in their daily operations. They are essential safety components that attach to an assembly or machine, protecting workers from moving machine parts in several ways.
One risk facing machinists is the potential for parts of their body or clothing to become entangled in the machine’s components. This can have obvious consequences, ranging in severity from minor injuries to death.
Flying debris, coolant, and chips also pose a serious risk. Not only can the operator be harmed by this, but adjacent equipment can also be damaged by a rogue piece of metal being flung from a lathe at a high enough velocity.
This is where safety shields come in. They provide a physical barrier between the machine’s point of operation and its operator. Although shields offer some degree of safeguarding, they cannot be considered guards because they do not prevent access to dangerous areas of the machinery.
Fixed Vs. Portable Safety Shields
Safety shields are typically part of a comprehensive machine guarding system, offering multiple layers of protection for both machine operators and bystanders. While many designs exist, depending on their application, there are two basic types: fixed and portable, each serving its unique purpose.
Fixed shields are affixed to machines, acting as a barrier between a worker and the point of operation of their machine. They’re designed to protect machine operators from flying debris while also providing them with optimal visibility for operating their machines.
A typical example of this type of machine safety equipment is a chuck shield, which protects users from accidental contact with rotating machine parts.
An engine lathe is a piece of machinery that can efficiently reshape metal into a plethora of shapes. However, for it to do its job, it must utilize a variety of cutting tools. Each of these poses a dangerous risk to its operator if not properly guarded. This is where your chuck shield will come into play, doing its best to mitigate any risk of injury to the machine’s operator.
Portable shields are, as you guessed, mobile. By virtue of not being affixed to any specific machine, these are a lot more versatile. Portable shields are used for a variety of safeguarding applications, including being placed between machines and standing along the aisles in your shop.
Examples of portable safety shields (Photo by Ferndale/J. Spik)
Safety Guards
Safety guards can include a variety of safeguarding equipment that isn’t specifically shields. Guards are physical barriers that prevent unauthorized access to moving parts.
Light curtains are a great example of a safety guard. These don’t encompass a physical barrier between the machine and its operator. They are instead composed of a series of LEDs that emit infrared light around a machine. When an opaque object interrupts a beam of light, the machine shuts off. Cool, right?
Light curtains represent a fascinating advancement in machine guarding. Check out this article for a more in-depth explanation of how they and other presence-sensing devices work.
Need a guard or a shield?
Ferndale Safety can help you with:
On-Site Machine Safeguarding Assessments Discuss guarding options with you Design and manufacture custom guarding and enclosures
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