The Guarding of Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment

Abstract

IN discussing safety in connection with mechanical power transmission equipment one is treating a subject toward which attention has been directed since the earliest days of factory safety work. The accident hazards of mechanical power transmission equipment were probably the first type of hazard to be guarded against on any considerable scale and even to-day the guarding of this type of equipment is being carried on most energetically in the enforcement of the safety codes of the various states. Large sums of money are spent annually upon guards, and it is but natural for the manufacturer to ask if this expenditure is justified by the actual hazards of the equipment, or whether perhaps guards are not being required where little or no risk is involved. It was with the purpose of ascertaining exactly the conditions under which mechanical power transmission accidents occurred, and the relationship of these conditions to the present safety standards for guarding such equipment, that the writer undertook to make a study of such accidents reported to the Department of Labor and Industry of Pennsylvania from January 1, 1920 to June 30, 1925, a period of five and one-half years. While this study has not been entirely completed there are certain facts which are well established and well worth noting. These have to do with (1) the number and seriousness of mechanical power transmission accidents, as compared with the total number and seriousness of all accidents and the position in the order of causes of these accidents compared with all accidents together with possible reasons accounting for this position; (2) the present guarding or lack of guarding and its effect upon mechanical power transmission accidents; and (3) the importance and necessity for the development of safe practices in connection with the use and maintenance of mechanical power transmission equipment.