INTRODUCTION
There is a rapidly growing emphasis on workplace safety being driven by regulatory bodies such as OSHA in the USA and the Canada Labour Code. In addition, the introduction of Bill C-45 in Canada established new legal duties for workplace health and safety, and imposes serious penalties for violations that result in injuries or death.
The unrestricted use of dangerous machinery on the shop floor constitutes a significant liability issue for employers as evidenced by a $190K fine paid by Walmart in August 2013 for, amongst other things, “unsafe trash compactor procedures”. Under the settlement, trash compactors must remain locked while not in use, and may not be operated except under the supervision of a trained manager or other trained, designated monitor.
Clearly, hanging a sign on a piece of dangerous shop floor equipment which says “To be used by authorized personnel only” is not adequate.
Access systems have been used for many years to manage physical access to restricted areas. However, they can also provide a cost effective means of insuring that dangerous machinery is only used by trained and authorized operators.