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

Up here in Canada whoever is resopnsible for the machine ie. employer is up the creek without a paddle if the machine interlocks are tampered with, especially if someone gets injured. I agree that it's a total pain trying to setup with the doors closed :)

regards

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.

.... 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....

Maybe they were going a bit too far saying it was a federal law, but I think you should feel happy working for a company where the pointy heads stress safety compliance rather than looking the other way.

It's one thing to have the door locks working when you can see what is happening inside the machine but we have several lathes that the glass is so beat up that you can't see a thing so we have to disable the door interlocks. I don't know how your company works but at ours we have a better chance of getting a new machine than in fixing the old one.

Carl

Put all saftey concerns in writing and present them to at least 2 higher ups in the company and keep copys. Then you are covered. Glass bad, write it up.