Machine guarding and safe operation awareness
Recognize where machines injure people (point of operation, power transmission and other moving parts), the motions and actions involved, the main types of guards and devices, and an operator's part: pre-use checks, never bypassing guards, reporting faults, and stopping and escalating. Awareness only, with US (OSHA) and UK (HSE) references.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 50 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify the point of operation, power transmission and other moving parts on a machine and the motions that make them dangerous
- Describe fixed, interlocked, adjustable and self-adjusting guards, and what each relies on
- Explain why a guard must never be removed, bypassed or defeated, and what to do when one gets in the way
- Carry out and record a pre-use check, and take a machine with a guarding fault out of use through the site process
- Distinguish an emergency stop or interlock from isolation under lockout/tagout
Course outline
- 1.Machine guarding and safe operation awarenessVideo · 2 min
- 2.Where machines injure peopleLesson · 16 min
- 3.Guards and safety devicesLesson · 17 min
- 4.Safe operation: your partLesson · 17 min
- 5.Machine guarding and safe operation awareness: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
- 6.Machine guarding and safe operation awareness: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7.Final exam9 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- OSHA 29 CFR 1910.212: General requirements for all machines
- OSHA Machine Guarding eTool: Hazardous motions and actions
- OSHA Machine Guarding eTool: Guards (fixed, interlocked, adjustable, self-adjusting)
- OSHA: Machine Guarding overview (links OSHA 3170, Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Employees from Amputations)
- HSE: Introduction to machinery safety (UK)
- HSE: Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) overview (UK)
- Your employer's safety procedures, risk assessments and site rules (these govern)
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