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Hazards Associated with Woodworking Operations |
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The principal hazards of woodworking can be classified as either safety or health hazards. Safety hazards can cause immediate injury to a worker. For example, if not properly grounded, the metal framework of a circular saw could become energized and possibly electrocute an employee. Or, if a worker's hands were to contact a saw blade, he or she could have one or more fingers cut off.
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Safety Hazards
- Machine hazards
– Point of operation
– Rotary and reciprocating movements
– In-running nip points (pinch points)
- Kickbacks
- Flying chips, material
- Tool projection
- Fire and explosion hazards
- Electrical hazards
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Mosthealth hazards are associated with long-term exposure to certain substances or to excessive noise levels or vibrations. Certain types of wood dust, for example, can cause allergic reactions, and saw dust has been determined to be a group A carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Likewise, some finishes and coatings used in finishing processes contain chemicals that can affect the central nervous system, causing headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Health hazards can cause both immediate (acute) and longer-term (chronic) health effects. For example, exposure to turpentine, a chemical used in some furniture waxes and finishes, can result in a range of health effects, from temporary irritation of the eyes and skin to kidney and bladder damage.
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Health Hazards
- Noise
- Vibration
- Wood dust—carcinogens
- Chemical hazards—from exposure to coatings, finishings, adhesives, solvent vapors
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Principal Safety Hazards of Woodworking and Methods of Control
How Can My Employees Recognize the Hazards of Woodworking Equipment?
It is important to train/teach your employees how to identify hazards related to their assigned job tasks. This section provides an overview of the major safety hazards associated with woodworking equipment. The section "Specific Woodworking Equipment Hazards and Controls" covers in more detail each of these hazards and discusses recommended controls for specific types of machinery typically used in woodworking operations.
Point of Operation
The point of operation is the place where work is performed on the material. This is where the stock is cut, shaped, bored, or formed. Most woodworking machines use a cutting and/or shearing action. Table 1 lists examples of how injuries can occur at the point of operation.
Table 1.
How Do Injuries Occur at the Point of Operation?
Employees can be injured if their hands get too close to the blade, particularly when working onsmall pieces of stock. The size of the piece dictates that the operator's hand be close to the blade. Accidents can occur when stock unexpectedly moves or when a worker's hand slips.
- Stock can get stuck in a blade and actually pull the operator's hands into the machine.
- Employees can be injured if the machine or its guard is not properly adjusted or maintained. An improperly adjusted radial saw, for example, might not return to its starting position after making a cut.
- If the machine has controls that are not recessed or remote, and the equipment is accidentally started, a worker's hands may be caught at the point of operation.
- Contact also can occur during machine repair or cleaning if care is not taken to de-energize the machine-that is, if lockout/tagout procedures are not followed.
- An employee may be injured if he or she reaches in to clean a saw or remove a piece of wood after the saw has been turned off, but is still coasting or idling. Also, saw blades often move so fast that it can be difficult to determine whether they are moving. This is especially a problem under fluorescent lighting
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Rotating and Reciprocating Movements
All machines operate by rotating or reciprocating motion or by a combination of these motions. For example, rotary cutting and shearing mechanisms, rotating wood stock, flywheels, shaft ends, and spindles all rotate. Rotating action is hazardous regardless of the speed, size, or surface finish of the moving part. Rotating parts and shafts, such as stock projecting from the chuck of a lathe, can catch hair or clothing and draw the operator in. This can seriously mangle or crush the operator. Rotating parts and stock can also force an arm or hand into a dangerous position, breaking bones and lacerating or severing a hand or other parts of a limb. Bolts, projecting keys, or screws on rotating parts increase the danger of getting caught by the rotary part. Operators can also be struck by a projecting bolt or key.
Principal Safety Hazards of Woodworking and Methods of Control
Reciprocating movement is back-and-forth or up-and-down motion. Operators can be caught and crushed by reciprocating movement when the moving part approaches or crosses a fixed part of the machine. (See Figure 1.)
Source: Concepts and Techniques of Machine Safeguarding, OSHA
Figure 1. Reciprocating Movement
In-Running Nip Points
In-running nip points (or pinch points) are a special danger arising from rotating or reciprocating parts. They occur whenever machine parts move toward each other or when one part moves past a stationary object. Parts of the body may be caught between or drawn into the nip point and crushed, mangled, or severed. Figure 2 shows some in-running nip points that may be encountered in the woodworking industry. The nip points in this figure are located where the belts or chains approach the pulleys or gears, or where the rotating parts approach the stationary components.
Kickbacks
Kickbacks occur when a saw seizes the stock and hurls it back at the operator. This can happen when the stock twists and binds against the side of the blades or is caught in the teeth. A blade that is not sharpened, or that is set at an incorrect height, can cause kickbacks. Poor-quality lumber (in other words, frozen lumber or lumber with many knots or foreign objects such as nails) can also result in kickbacks. Hazards due to kickbacks are most likely when there is a lack of safeguards, such as spreaders, anti-kickback fingers, and gauge or rip fences. Kickbacks occur more often when cutting parallel to the wood grain (ripping) than when cross-cutting.
Source: Concepts and Techniques of MachineSafeguarding, OSHA
Figure 2. In-Running Nip Points
Flying Chips
Employees may be exposed to splinters and chips that are flung by the cutting action of woodworking equipment.
Tool Projection (Unbalanced Cutter Heads)
Many pieces of woodworking equipment-such as routers, shapers, and molders-employ rotating cutter heads with multiple knives. Cutter heads that are not properly adjusted, or that are poorly mounted or have broken knives, can become unbalanced. Balance is critical for keeping knives secured to a rapidly moving cutter head. The centrifugal forces on an unbalanced cutter head can fling the knives from the tool and severely or fatally injure the operator or other nearby personnel. Using the wrong tool on a cutter head or using a tool at a higher speed than it was designed to operate at also can cause tool breakage and projection.
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Hard Hats
Hearing Protection
