Press brakes are a common sight in fabricating shops. They allow a wide range of bending, forming, notching and punching to be performed quickly and easily.
One common area of concern across fabricating shops is press brake safety. The press operator is generally required to hold the piece close to the point of operation, increasing the chance of serious injury and maiming. This proximity also complicates the use of point-of-operation safeguarding, particularly when complex operational sequences are required.
- the frequent use of old or refurbished equipment, which may have comprised safety features
- the unpredictability of operator behavior (some may bypass safeguarding to facilitate set up or speed up production)
- the lack of a safety specialist in many fabrication shops
Without a specialist on staff, proper risk assessments are rarely performed. Optimally, an overall risk assessment that considers hazard severity, frequency of exposure, and probability of injury should be used to assess a press brake’s safety. But such assessments require a third-party safety expert, an expense many shops prefer to forego.
Safety Options
Viable options for press brake safety devices are limited.
Fixed and interlocked barrier guards as well as two hand controls aren’t good alternatives because the operator must hold the work piece close to the point of operation.
Pullbacks and restraints, which shackle an operator to a machine and limit movement, generally aren’t practicable. Workers hate them, and they require regular inspections and adjustments at each shift change, operator change and die change.
A two hand down/foot through device presents other difficulties. In this system, the operator initiates a stroke with a two-hand control and the ram moves to a stroke stop position leaving a .250-inch opening (an opening deemed small enough to be safe). The operator positions the work in the tool and completes the stroke using the foot switch. This method is very slow and creates ergonomic issues for the operator.
An electro-optical light curtain or laser beam is often the most practical press break safety alternative, although each requires the purchase of a specific device. A light curtain system should be set up to remember part profiles and should have a muting circuit to bypass the system during the non-hazardous upstroke portion of the cycle. Laser beam devices are press brake-specific and work well with fast-moving hydraulic machines.
It's the Law
Despite the obstacles, press brake safety devices are a legal necessity. Press brakes must comply with OSHA’s machine guarding performance specification 1910.212 general requirements for all machines:
“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.” (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, n.d., ¶ 1910.212(a)(1)).
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) B11.3 standard, which was reaffirmed in June 2007, outlines possible hazards and presents alternative safeguarding and press brake safety devices.
Don’t leave press safety to chance – ProductionResources Inc. can help ensure the safety of your press brakes. Call 800-863-3164 to learn more.