Machines help improve production efficiency, but their moving parts, sharp edges, hot surfaces can also cause serious workplace injuries. Based on the 2005–2007 five-year indicators, accidents related to fixed machinery represent 5.3% (4,923) of all accidents involving time-loss injuries annually.
The severity of injuries caused by machine-related accidents and the fact that machines are used in most activity sectors impelled the CNESST to apply a “Sécurité des machines” (machine safety) action plan starting in March 2005. These types of accidents affect mostly manual labourers (85%) and young workers (ages 15 to 24).
The most frequent traumatic injuries involve the hands and fingers, and consist primarily of open wounds, bruises, and fractures. Injuries to the upper extremities represent approximately 20% of all injuries compensated by the CNESST. Between 2006 and 2009, an average of 13 machine-related deaths occurred annually.
Keep your workers safe from machinery injuries
This guide discusses the prevention of mechanical hazards. It describes methods for eliminating hazards at source or for reducing them, as well as ways to protect against them by using fixed guards.
The risk reduction or distance protection principles presented in the guide are general and are appropriate for the majority of machines.
Safety devices are used to reduce the accident risks associated with hazardous industrial machinery and processes. Today, there is a wide range of these devices, but as a corollary, it is increasingly difficult to find the correct information easily and rapidly.
The aim of this directory is to facilitate access to information by Québec purchasers of these devices, by machine and process designers, as well as by OHS practitioners.