The short film is aimed at manufacturers of machines and systems and highlights the challenges associated with defeated safeguards.
In the world of machines, safeguards are of crucial importance. But what happens when these safety devices themselves become a problem? The new explanatory film is aimed at manufacturers of machines and systems and highlights the challenges associated with defeated safeguards.
Background: People working on machines are exposed to hazards posed by the machines themselves. Safeguards are used to minimize these risks. These are intended to protect employees from the remaining hazards of the machine. Unfortunately, despite the associated risk, these devices are repeatedly dismantled, bypassed or otherwise rendered ineffective.
Challenges: The defeating of protective devices is often related to deficiencies in the machine’s safety concept. If the concept is not tailored to the operability of the machine, safeguards are perceived as a nuisance. As a result, important activities such as maintenance, setup, troubleshooting or cleaning of the machine are made more difficult or even impossible by the protective device. This creates a strong incentive for people working with such machines to tamper with them.
Company responsibility: Companies that manufacture are legally obliged to only place and provide safe machines on the market. Machines with a high incentive to tamper are not to be considered safe and must not be operated due to the increased risk. The question of whether or not a machine’s safeguards offer an incentive to tamper is therefore highly relevant for both machine manufacturers and operating companies.
The new explanatory film sheds light on these topics and provides suggestions on how manufacturers can ensure that their machines do not provide an additional incentive to tamper with them. This is the only way to effectively prevent accidents at work and ensure the safety of the people who work with these machines on a daily basis.
