Originally Posted by fplz48c  I work for a Hydraulic Tong manufacturer and recently we had a visit by our owners from up north. They pointed out that our Door Safety Switches on our machines were not connected and they made the comment to our Safety Coordinator that it was a federal law that the switched had to be in working order and connected so of course the Safety man had the Switches hooked back up.
Now
I've ran Mazak Mill for about 8 years and have never had a machine where opening the doors actually stopped the machine from running.
Question? is this true, is there acctually a law that states this b/c i always thought they were on the machine just as a precaution. I've been in machining like I said for 8 years and no one I know has ever operated a mazak with the door interlocks working. I tell you what that is a big hassle |
OSHA regulations state that safety devices that came equipped with the machine must be maintained in functioning order. It's not illegal per say to disable the interlocks, but if someone gets hurt and OSHA gets called in, then it becomes a reason for them to fine and or imprison depending on what happened. Personally I leave the interlocks intact on all my machines, I have just learned to adapt to using them. If you can't see through the windows because they are scratched then see if they can replace them. Sounds like the owners are concerned with doing the right thing which is more than some shop owners out there.
Interlocks help protect the operators from unpredicted motion while setting up, controls can and have wigged out and killed people. I asked the company that we bought one of our VMC's from if they could disable the interlock for easier setup, they said no way, they had sold a machine to a company that disabled the interlock and an operator got his head crushed when he accidentally hit cycle start during setup. While the dealer wasn't the one who disabled the interlock there was an investigation and the shop owner was in deep dodo.
Some owners want the most profit at all costs, even if someone needs to break the law, or someone gets hurt. Just my thoughts.