Author Jeffery H. Warren
A worker was injured while testing gas springs similar to the type that hold the hatchback of an SUV open. The hazard that injured the worker was an unguarded shear point. The tester contained a mounting plate that was raised and lowered by a pneumatic cylinder.
The pneumatic cylinder lowered the mounting plate while the worker’s fingers were in the hazardous, unguarded shear point. The force testing machine violated applicable safety standards including ASME B15.1-2000 Safety Standard for Mechanical Power Transmission Apparatus sections 1.3 and 3.1.
The force tester.
It was technologically and economically feasible for the manufacturer to have guarded the hazardous shear point at the time they designed and built the force testing machine by installing a fixed guard to prevent a worker from getting too close to the hazard. The hazardous, unguarded shear point on the force testing machine was capable of producing serious injury, including amputating fingers.
The risk of injury associated with the hazardous shear point was high because the hazard was unguarded, workers were exposed to the hazard every time the force testing machine cycled, and serious injury would occur every time a worker’s body part became trapped in the rapidly closing shear point. The high risk of injury associated with the hazardous, unguarded shear point was not tolerable because it was feasible to control the hazard using a fixed guard with no effect on the utility of the force tester.
It was or should have been foreseeable to the manufacturer at the time they designed and manufactured the force testing machine that the hazardous, unguarded pinch point would cause serious harm any time an operator got too close to the hazard.
A shear point was created between the fixed frame and the movable mounting plate when the pneumatic cylinder lowered the mounting plate.
The force testing machine was unreasonably dangerous and defective. It contained an uncontrolled hazard with a high, foreseeable and intolerable risk of serious injury with a certain probability of occurrence any time a worker’s body part is caught in the shear point. There were technologically and economically feasible means that existed to control the hazard at the time of the machine’s design and manufacture. The unreasonably dangerous and defective condition of the force tester was a cause of the worker’s injury.
A simple Lexan guard was all that was required to protect a worker from the hazardous shear point.
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Jeffery H. Warren, PhD, PE, CSP, is the chief engineer and CEO at Warren specializing in mechanical, machine design and safety. His deep expertise in machine design and safety analysis makes him a frequent presenter, trainer and expert witness. In addition to investigating more than 2000 claims involving property damage and injuries related to machinery and equipment since 1987, Jeff has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Carolina as well as a Master of Science and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University — both with machine design emphasis.
