[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 5]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1910.212]

[Page 606-607]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                                OF LABOR
 
PART 1910_OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS--Table of Contents
 
                Subpart O_Machinery and Machine Guarding
 
Sec.  1910.212  General requirements for all machines.

    (a) Machine guarding--(1) Types of guarding. 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. Examples of guarding methods are--barrier guards, two-hand 
tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.
    (2) General requirements for machine guards. Guards shall be affixed 
to the machine where possible and secured elsewhere if for any reason 
attachment to the machine is not possible. The guard shall be such that 
it does not offer an accident hazard in itself.
    (3) Point of operation guarding. (i) Point of operation is the area 
on a machine where work is actually performed upon the material being 
processed.
    (ii) The point of operation of machines whose operation exposes an 
employee to injury, shall be guarded. The guarding device shall be in 
conformity

[[Page 607]]

with any appropriate standards therefor, or, in the absence of 
applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed as 
to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger 
zone during the operating cycle.
    (iii) Special handtools for placing and removing material shall be 
such as to permit easy handling of material without the operator placing 
a hand in the danger zone. Such tools shall not be in lieu of other 
guarding required by this section, but can only be used to supplement 
protection provided.
    (iv) The following are some of the machines which usually require 
point of operation guarding:
    (a) Guillotine cutters.
    (b) Shears.
    (c) Alligator shears.
    (d) Power presses.
    (e) Milling machines.
    (f) Power saws.
    (g) Jointers.
    (h) Portable power tools.
    (i) Forming rolls and calenders.
    (4) Barrels, containers, and drums. Revolving drums, barrels, and 
containers shall be guarded by an enclosure which is interlocked with 
the drive mechanism, so that the barrel, drum, or container cannot 
revolve unless the guard enclosure is in place.
    (5) Exposure of blades. When the periphery of the blades of a fan is 
less than seven (7) feet above the floor or working level, the blades 
shall be guarded. The guard shall have openings no larger than one-half 
(\1/2\) inch.
    (b) Anchoring fixed machinery. Machines designed for a fixed 
location shall be securely anchored to prevent walking or moving.