Safe use of machinery
Questions and answers
What is the safe use of machinery project?
The Department of Labour is seeing too many cases of workplace injuries and in some cases deaths because of inadequate machine guarding and machines not being used safely.
The Safe Use of Machinery project aims to educate employers about the importance of the safe use of machinery and to ultimately reduce injuries in the workplace. The project also includes designers, manufacturers and suppliers where Health and Safety inspectors identify that unsafe machinery has been sold or supplied to New Zealand businesses. Machine guarding is a simple way of protecting employees from horrific injuries but unfortunately too many people are not putting the right steps in place to protect their staff.
Why did the Department choose to do the safe use of machinery project?
This project was started by the Department because of the unacceptably high number of accidents relating to the unsafe use of machinery in New Zealand workplaces. This project aims to better remind and inform employers of their responsibility under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 to keep employees safe while at work.
How can businesses prevent the horrific injuries caused by unsafe machinery?
Businesses can prevent accidents caused by the unsafe use of machinery by:
- Ensuring that machinery is properly guarded
- Positioning machinery out of reach of employees where possible
- Ensuring effective procedures that cover operating, cleaning and maintaining equipment is in place
- Making sure that staff are properly trained and adequately supervised.
