Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Woodworking
The Woodworking Approved Code of Practice requires that the following machines are now braked.
Work on all other machines should be completed by 5 December 2008.
Provided the manual brake is maintained in efficient working order and quickly brings the saw to a stop, there is no need to fit additional braking. You should ideally fit a spring return to the saw carriage and the blade should return into a full enclosure when behind the fence to eliminate risk during run down. Employers must ensure that all relevant workers use the brake.
Again you should fit a spring return and a full blade enclosure at the rear of the fence so that you cannot come in contact with the blade whilst it is running down. However, you will need to consider in your risk assessment how often the saw is used. If it is in regular use by different people and has a long run down time, there is an increased possibility that another user may pull out the saw carriage not knowing that the blade is still rotating. In these circumstances braking may be more appropriate. Make sure that all users of the saw are aware of the run down times and safe systems of work for your workshop.
Many companies use trenching heads on radial arm cross cut saws. The increased weight and momentum of such tooling leads to long run down times and as such you should fit brakes. Ensure that the brake is able to cope with the heaviest blade in regular use and that it has brought the saw to a complete stop before it cuts out.
When working with thicker timber the machine feed table is often lowered sufficiently to allow ease of access to the cutters. The machines typically have a long run down period which increases the risk when making adjustments or clearing waste material.
If the machine isolator is operated then power to the entire machine, including the braking unit, is lost. HSE has now seen more than one ‘run down’ accident involving a machine fitted with DC injection braking. In all cases the power supply to the machine had been isolated before the braking cycle had completed and the braking effect was lost. Workers then approached the machinery for setting, not realising that the cutters were still rotating.
Employers must make sure all workers are aware of the need to operate normal machine mounted stop controls and allow the braking cycle to complete before isolating the power supply.
The Woodworking Approved Code of Practice requires the following hand-fed machines to be used with LCPT:
What does LCPT look like?
NB The limiter must be mounted so that it travels in front of its associated cutter. It is easy to mount the cutter to rotate in the wrong direction. This will almost certainly cause an accident.