Machinery and Equipment Risk Assessments for OEMs
For machine builders at original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), labels, warnings, and markings are a critical part of product safety and compliance. But, there are other important, related elements. The foundation of a strong product safety program is a quality risk assessment process. It’s fundamental from both a product design and safety standpoint. You cannot control hazards and risks through design, or provide safeguards or warnings unless you first assess them.
A thorough risk assessment will identify hazards, estimate the severity of injury presented by each hazard, and estimate the probability of the injury’s occurrence. Then, for risks considered “unacceptable” due to applicable laws, regulations, standards, or public opinion, control measures can be applied (based on the hierarchy of controls) to reduce risk.
This can help protect those who interact with the product during its lifecycle. In that way, your warning systems – including labels and instructions – are an outcome of your risk assessment process. Intelligent decisions need to be made concerning risks, including how to warn effectively, so people can avoid harm
Risk Assessment Requirements and Best Practices for Manufacturers
Machine risk assessments can help machine builders improve machinery safety, reduce risk, and comply with applicable legal requirements. From a legal perspective, “reasonably foreseeable” risks must be defined as well as “reasonable” ways to mitigate risks associated with hazards that cannot be designed out. It’s critical to proactively prioritize and mitigate risk in advance of injuries or catastrophes.
For consistency and to utilize the latest advances in this area, following a standards-based risk assessment process is important. Recent risk analysis standards from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) exemplify today’s best practices. These include:
- ANSI Z10 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems standard
- ANSI B11.0 Safety of Machinery; General Requirements and Risk Assessment
- ISO 31000 Risk management – Guidelines
- ISO 31010 Risk management – Risk assessment techniques
- ISO 12100 Safety of machinery – General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction
- ISO/TR 14121-2, Safety of machinery — Risk assessment — Part 2: Practical guidance and examples of methods
The methods from these standards can be used to create your own standardized process. There are also a number of industry standards requiring risk assessments to take into consideration, including – among many others – machinery, robotics, packaging machinery, semiconductor equipment, electrical systems, fire, and consumer products. Prioritizing machine safety at the manufacturing level helps your products become more marketable and have more value to end-user purchasers – especially in the United States as OSHA's General Duty Clause mainly focuses on employers when concerning machine risk in operations.
Our Risk Assessment Services
We offer comprehensive risk assessment solutions for machinery and equipment in addition to our safety product services. By working with our ANSI and ISO standards-trained experts, we can help you avoid making common, costly mistakes. Those include failing to use a vetted system in line with the latest standards and failing to use a comprehensive approach from start to finish – from the product’s design to the go-to-market strategy. This includes strategies to ensure your product is in compliance with multiple countries according to their different standards requirements in hazard identification and prevention.
We work with clients on product design and development at all stages, including the initial design, final development, and aftermarket placement. Together, we can ensure your risk assessment follows a formal method based on your needs and today’s best practices for hazard communication and reduction. The end result: effective processes and outcomes are established in line with your comprehensive safety strategy.
