The main purpose of machine safeguards is to protect personnel from the mechanical risks posed by moving machinery parts. Health and safety regulations require guards and other technical measures to prevent hazards as much as possible, including meeting anti-tampering regulations and ensuring guards are simple yet effective.
The legislation governing this area is the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). This law applies to all machinery, regardless of size, establishing safety standards for machine guarding. PUWER outlines the types of protection required and details how they should be installed, ensuring that no machine can be considered safe to use until its requirements are completely fulfilled.