Safe use of machinery
Machine guarding guidance and legislation
The Department of Labour’s Safe Use of Machinery project aims to reduce the number of people being injured or killed because of unguarded or inadequately guarded machinery.
Guidance
The Australian Standard, AS 4024 Safeguarding of Machinery, represents the current state of knowledge in relation to the safeguarding of machinery and should be referred to by industry and inspectors as the primary standard against which to benchmark. Employers, suppliers, manufacturers and designers remain free to work to other standards but will need to demonstrate that they are capable of achieving an equivalent level of safety in the circumstances in which they are used.
This Standard can be purchased from:
Standards New Zealand
Private Bag 2439
Wellington 6140
www.standards.co.nz
Free phone 0800 78 26 32
Legislation
Machine guarding has been in legislation for more than a century. Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 employers and people in charge of workplaces have a responsibility to take all practicable steps to ensure their employees are safe while at work.
