ModulesMachine SafeguardingWork Control
Every danger zone, its guard, and how well it must hold.One machine record, from the risk assessment to the defeat that points at design.
For safety and maintenance engineers in plants with presses, palletizers, conveyors and packing lines: register each machine by zone, record the required and declared level of every safeguard, and see where guards get defeated, and why.
Infeed
- Hazards
- Drawing-in · Crushing
- Tasks
- Operation · Jam clearing
- Safe mode
- No · Jam clearing needs access with the conveyor stopped by the light curtain only
| Safeguard | Function | Required | Declared | Gap | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infeed light curtainLight curtain | Stops the infeed conveyor when the field is broken | PL d | PL d | — | Defeated now · BYP-2026-0011 · clearing a jam |
Stacking area
- Hazards
- Crushing · Impact
- Tasks
- Setup or changeover · Cleaning
- Safe mode
- Partial · Reduced speed with hold-to-run on the mode selector; not for cleaning
| Safeguard | Function | Required | Declared | Gap | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stacking gate interlockInterlocked guard with locking | Holds the gate locked until the stacker is at rest | PL d | PL c | Below required | — |
Mode selector with safe speedMode selector with safe speed | Reduced speed and hold-to-run for setup | PL d | Not stated | Not declared | — |
Turntable
- Hazards
- Shearing
- Tasks
- Operation
- Safe mode
- Not needed · No access task during operation
| Safeguard | Function | Required | Declared | Gap | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turntable fixed guardFixed guard | Prevents reach to the turntable edge | Not stated | Not stated | — | — |
One machine, three views. An example machine; the fields are the product’s, the values illustrative.
Where it connects
On the same machine: Energy Isolation, Bypass Control, Inspections & Audits and 38 more modules in one workspace.
Method note
PL or SIL for a machine? Both standards are right.
Machine builders and integrators split between the two, and one line often holds both.
Leandro · Founder, UProcess
One school specifies every safety function as a performance level, PL a to e. The other uses SIL 1 to 3, often because the same engineers already work that way on the process side. A single plant can receive a palletizer rated in PL and a press line rated in SIL.
So each safeguard keeps its own scheme, and the gap is shown only where the two levels can be compared.
- Performance levelRequired and declared as PL a–e. Below required is shown on the safeguard.
- SILRequired and declared as SIL 1–3, for teams that design safety functions that way.
- Not stated yetThe safeguard is recorded now; the level is added when the risk assessment gives it.
Where Machine Safeguarding usually breaks
Four places machine guarding goes wrong, and what the record does about each.
The job cannot be done with the guard on.
A German accident-insurance study published in 2006 found over a third of all safeguards on metalworking machines defeated. A later survey names troubleshooting and fault clearance, setup and adjustment as the tasks where safeguards are most often defeated, when the machine offers no safe way to do them.
Source: DGUV / IFA, Current figures on the defeating of safeguards (2024)
In UProcess Each danger zone records the tasks done there and whether a safe mode exists for them: yes, partial, no or not needed. A zone with an access task and no safe mode is shown on the machine.
PL-1 · Infeed · danger zone
- Hazards
- Drawing-in · Crushing
- Tasks done here
- Operation · Jam clearing
- Safe mode for those tasks
- No
- Note
- Jam clearing needs access with the conveyor stopped by the light curtain only
A zone with an access task and no safe mode is the first design signal.
The bypass becomes the way the machine is run.
In a fatal chipper case, a switch had been fitted to bypass the hood interlock, and workers were reportedly told to use it instead of stopping the machine to clear jams.
Source: NIOSH / Oregon FACE report 05OR043
In UProcess Every defeat of a safeguard is a Bypass Control record with a machine reason and a clock, and the safeguard reads Defeated now. Speed or productivity can be recorded as a reason, never approved.
Bypasses · Infeed light curtain
Lockout is written for the mechanics, not for the jam.
In a fatal baler case the company’s lockout programme applied only to the mechanics who serviced the machine. The operator clearing a jam had no lockout, and the access-door interlock was known to fail now and then.
Source: NIOSH FACE report 2001-08
In UProcess The machine holds its own energy control procedure as isolation points in order. Start isolation opens the certificate in Energy Isolation with those points already filled in.
PL-1 · energy control procedure
The certificate opens in Energy Isolation with these points in order.
Missing guards are found by the inspector, not the check.
Machine guarding and lockout stay on OSHA’s list of most cited standards. In the preliminary fiscal 2026 list, lockout ranks third and machine guarding tenth.
Source: OSHA, Top 10 most frequently cited standards
In UProcess Start-of-shift and periodic checks are Inspections templates that name the machine. The machine page shows its check templates, overdue rounds, the last completed check and open findings, and its QR opens it.
Inspections · PL-1 start-of-shift check
Start-of-shift check · overdue 3 days
- Template
- PL-1 start-of-shift check
- Last round
- 14 Nov 2026 · Tomasz Nowak
- Failed item
- Turntable fixed guard: fixing missing
- Finding
- Open · AT-0221
Signed-in users only · the round runs in Inspections
Machine MC-2026-0003 · Palletizer PL-1Window Last 90 daysSite Riverside plant
| Zone | Safeguard | Reason | Defeats | Hours | Last | Safe mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infeed | Infeed light curtain | Machine: clearing a jam | 6 | 3 h | 16 Nov 2026 | No |
| Stacking area | Stacking gate interlock | Machine: setup or changeover | 2 | 9 h | 4 Nov 2026 | Partial |
| Stacking area | Stacking gate interlock | Machine: broken safeguard | 1 | 41 h | 22 Sep 2026 | Partial |
- Action
- AT-0217 · Add a safe jam-clearing mode at the PL-1 infeed · Owner Priya Nair · Due 20 Dec 2026
People never appear in this list.
The record an auditor asks for.
Why guards get defeated is a property of the machine, kept by zone, not a list of names.
- Every machine by zone, with the hazards, the tasks done there and whether a safe mode exists.
- Each safeguard with its type, its function and its required and declared level.
- Every defeat as a bypass: reason, kind, hours, who approved it and when it was restored.
- A design-fix list per machine for the last 90 days, by zone, safeguard and reason.
What’s in a machine record
- Machine
- Number, name, site, tags, type, manufacturer, model, serial number, year, photos and owner. Retired machines keep their history.
- Danger zones
- Hazards from your company list, the tasks done there, and a safe mode for those tasks: yes, partial, no or not needed, with a note.
- Safeguards
- Type, function, required level and declared level in one scheme, PL a–e or SIL 1–3. The level is never calculated; a gap between required and declared is shown.
- Around the machine
- Risk assessment reference with its review date, manual status, authorised operators read from Training, and the energy control procedure in order.
- Defeats
- Bypasses on its safeguards, with machine reasons, and the design-fix list by zone, safeguard and reason. People never appear in it.
Questions
Does UProcess calculate the PL or SIL?
No. The level comes from your risk assessment and the safeguard’s documentation. UProcess records both and shows the gap.
Who counts as an authorised operator?
People with every training module the machine names valid today, read from Training. Those close to expiry are listed too.
Does the design-fix list name the person who defeated a guard?
No. It groups defeats by zone, safeguard and reason, so the answer is a change to the machine or the task.
Where are the checks done?
In Inspections, from templates that name the machine. Its QR opens the machine page for signed-in users, with the checks to start.