There are a number of safety regulations already in place that your shop needs to adhere to. But, every CNC shop owner could always use a refresher on some things that should be happening in your shop to make sure that you aren’t just following the rules, but also striving to create a safe environment.
Accident prevention is always the goal so it pays to be proactive on this front. Your employees will certainly appreciate you going above and beyond for their safety by maintaining a strong culture of safety.
In this article, I will go over several things you should be doing to make sure that your shop is safe to work in.
1. Keep machine doors closed
Opening a door to your CNC machine is asking for trouble. The machine needs to finish its cycle before you can put your hand inside. Even highly trained operators are guilty of trying to shave off a few seconds of operation time by opening the door.
Whether you have traditional or Swiss CNC machines, you may want to put a barrier up on the door that gets an operator to stop for a second and allow the cycle to finish. It’s very tempting to hit the stop button with one hand and then try to start turning the parts with the other. Understand the point where you know when the machine is in home position and ready to start another run.
Remember that you don’t need to have the door open while the machine is running. It is as unsafe as it is unnecessary. A piece of the tool could come off while it is spinning and hit you as well as the stock itself.
2. Don’t alter the tools
In the name of economy and of time, many machine operators will alter their machine. This often happens when a shop is using cheap machines to save money but they are not the right type to do the job. By altering the tools they feel that they can machine the parts without needing to upgrade and go for modern machines.
This is an accident waiting to happen as these machines are not made to be altered. Even repairs that are necessary need to be done by a professional technician.
3. Keep machines maintained
A machine that has not been cleaned for a while poses a number of safety problems.it should be said that most shop operators do keep their machines clean so they can make quality parts. An unclean machine will not be as precise as it should be for delicate operations.
But, there are times that the machines need cleaning even outside of their scheduled maintenance.
4. Keep staff trained
One of the biggest issues in many shops these days is that the operators are not as skilled as they used to be. This is mainly because automation has taken a lot of the skill factor out of the job.
It also means that some operators don’t know what to do with the machine. Keeping them trained and up to date on how the machine works is going to keep them safe.
