Machine Guarding & Machine Safety Expert Witness
Industrial Machinery Injury Cases for Plaintiffs and Defendants
When a worker is injured on an industrial machine, the central questions are usually the same: was the machine adequately guarded, did the guarding meet the applicable regulations and standards, and could the injury have been prevented?
Dr. William S. Howard has spent more than 30 years designing and building industrial machinery, including the guarding and safety systems on those machines, and has taught seminars on OSHA safety and machine guarding. He works with both plaintiffs and defendants, and has been retained by OSHA as an expert witness.
Plaintiff
For injured workers and their families, Dr. Howard determines whether the machine was adequately guarded and whether a design or guarding deficiency caused the injury:Whether the point of operation, ingoing nip points and rotating parts were properly guarded.
Whether a feasible, safer guarding method or design was available.
Whether interlocks, light curtains or other safety devices were adequate and working.
Whether warnings and instructions were adequate.
Defense
For machine manufacturers, integrators and employers, Dr. Howard evaluates whether the machine met the regulations and standards that applied to it:Compliance with the OSHA regulations and ANSI standards in effect when the machine was built and installed.
Whether the machine or its guarding was modified, removed or bypassed after it left the manufacturer.
Whether lockout/tagout and other safe work procedures were followed.
Whether the physical evidence is consistent with the claimed sequence of events.
Regulations & Standards
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.212: general requirements for all machines, including guarding of the point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, and flying chips and sparks.ANSI B11.0: safety of machinery, general requirements and risk assessment.
ANSI B11.19: performance requirements for safeguarding and other risk reduction measures.
ANSI/ISO 12100: general principles for design, risk assessment and risk reduction.
Where servicing or maintenance is involved, also OSHA 1910.147 (lockout/tagout).
Safeguarding Methods Evaluated
Fixed and adjustable barrier guards · Interlocked guards and safety interlock switches · Light curtains and other presence-sensing devices · Two-hand controls · Emergency stops and safety-rated control circuits · Warnings and safety labels · Risk assessment and the hierarchy of risk reduction: inherently safe design, then safeguarding, then information for use
Typical Machines & Injuries
All types of industrial machinery used in factories and manufacturing plants, including packaging machinery, conveyors, presses, saws and cutters, mixers and blenders, robotic cells and automated equipment, carton formers and feeders, bagmakers, corrugated and converting machinery, and food and pharmaceutical processing equipment.
Amputations, crush injuries, caught-in and caught-between injuries, and entanglement in rotating parts.
Dr. Howard's practice focuses on machinery inside factories and plants. He generally does not take cases involving farm or mining equipment, or mobile and lifting equipment such as forklifts and cranes.
Lockout/Tagout
Many machine injuries happen during cleaning, jam clearing, servicing or maintenance, when OSHA requires the machine to be locked out. See the OSHA page for the lockout/tagout requirements Dr. Howard evaluates.
To discuss a machine guarding or machine safety case, call (770) 331-2283 or email WSHoward@StabilityTech.com.
