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Home›Courses›Safety Training›Machine Guarding: Safe Work Practices

Machine Guarding: Safe Work Practices

30 minutesEN / ES / MLCCSafety Training29 CFR 1910.212 - General Requirements for All Machines (Machine Guarding)
Quick Answer

Machine Guarding: Safe Work Practices is a 30-minute online course that teaches employees to identify machine hazards, understand guard types and requirements, and follow safe operating procedures as required by OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.212. It is designed for machine operators, maintenance personnel, and supervisors in manufacturing and industrial environments and includes a downloadable certificate of completion.

Course Overview

Machine-related injuries are among the most severe in general industry, often resulting in amputations, crush injuries, and fatalities. OSHA's machine guarding standard (29 CFR 1910.212) ranked number 10 on the FY 2025 Top 10 most-cited violations list with 1,239 citations. The agency's Amputations National Emphasis Program continues to target manufacturing facilities where unguarded or inadequately guarded machines put workers at risk. According to OSHA, proper machine guarding could prevent approximately 18,000 amputations, lacerations, crushing injuries, and abrasions per year in American workplaces.

This course trains your employees to identify the hazardous motion zones and points of operation on common industrial machines, understand the different types of machine guards and safety devices, and follow safe work practices when operating and working near machinery. Your team will learn about barrier guards, interlocking guards, presence-sensing devices, and two-hand controls, as well as when guards may be temporarily removed and what safeguards must be in place during those operations.

What You'll Learn

  • OSHA machine guarding requirements under 29 CFR 1910.212 and related standards
  • Types of hazardous machine motions - rotating, reciprocating, transversing, cutting, punching, and shearing
  • Point of operation, nip point, and power transmission hazard identification
  • Guard types - fixed barrier, interlocked, adjustable, and self-adjusting
  • Safety devices - presence-sensing, two-hand controls, restraint, and pullback systems
  • Safe operating procedures and prohibited practices around moving machine parts
  • Guard removal protocols and the relationship between machine guarding and lockout/tagout
  • Reporting requirements for missing, damaged, or bypassed machine guards

Who Needs This Training

  • Machine operators in manufacturing, fabrication, and assembly environments
  • Press operators, lathe operators, and CNC machine operators
  • Maintenance technicians who service, repair, and adjust industrial machinery
  • Setup personnel who remove and replace guards during machine changeover
  • Production supervisors responsible for machine safety compliance
  • Safety managers conducting machine guarding assessments and audits

Regulatory Background

OSHA's general machine guarding standard (29 CFR 1910.212) requires that one or more methods of machine guarding be provided to protect operators and other employees from hazards created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks. The standard ranked number 10 on OSHA's FY 2025 Top 10 most-cited violations list with 1,239 citations. Additional machine-specific standards apply to woodworking machinery (1910.213), abrasive wheel machinery (1910.215), mechanical power presses (1910.217), and forging machines (1910.218). OSHA's Amputations National Emphasis Program directs compliance officers to inspect manufacturing facilities with high amputation rates, frequently resulting in machine guarding citations. Serious violations carry penalties of up to $16,550 per citation, and willful violations can reach $165,514. Guards that are removed and not replaced, bypassed safety interlocks, and missing point-of-operation guarding are among the most commonly cited conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

OSHA requires that one or more methods of machine guarding protect employees from hazards at the point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, and flying debris. Guards must be affixed to the machine where possible and must not create additional hazards. The employer must ensure that guards are always in place during machine operation and that employees cannot bypass them. The specific guarding method depends on the type of machine, the operation being performed, and the physical layout of the work area.
Machine guards may only be removed during servicing and maintenance activities that are covered by the employer's lockout/tagout program under 29 CFR 1910.147. When a guard must be removed for setup, adjustment, or cleaning, the equipment must be de-energized and locked out before the guard is removed. The guard must be replaced and verified as functional before the machine is returned to production operation. Operating a machine without its guards in place is a citable OSHA violation.
OSHA's Amputations National Emphasis Program (NEP) directs compliance officers to conduct inspections of manufacturing facilities with high rates of amputation injuries. Facilities targeted under the NEP typically receive comprehensive machine guarding inspections. The program was established because amputations remain one of the most severe and frequent types of manufacturing injuries, and many are directly attributable to inadequate or missing machine guarding.
A serious violation of 29 CFR 1910.212 carries a penalty of up to $16,550 per citation as of 2025. Willful violations - such as knowingly allowing employees to operate unguarded machines - can reach $165,514 per citation. OSHA can issue separate citations for each unguarded machine found during an inspection, so a facility with multiple machines lacking proper guarding faces cumulative penalties that compound quickly.
The machines most frequently cited under OSHA's machine guarding standards include mechanical power presses, milling machines, lathes, table saws, band saws, drill presses, grinders, and conveyor systems. Point-of-operation guarding violations are the most common, followed by exposed power transmission components such as belts, pulleys, chains, and gears. Any machine with moving parts that can catch, crush, cut, or shear has the potential for a machine guarding citation if not properly safeguarded.

Part of These Training Packages

Manufacturing & Warehousing

10 courses for OSHA general industry compliance

View Package Details

Related Courses

Employers with machine-intensive operations typically pair this course with Lockout Tagout: Secure Safely to ensure employees understand energy control procedures required when guards must be removed for servicing, and with Hand and Power Tools: Best Practices to cover the full spectrum of equipment safety training for manufacturing and maintenance teams.

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$29.95
per person
Volume Pricing
Team Size Price per Person
1 - 9$29.95
10 - 24$23.95
25 - 49$21.55
50 - 99$17.50
Subtotal $29.95
Language

This course is available in English, Spanish, and Multi-Language CC at no additional charge.

Certificate of completion included. Downloadable upon passing the final assessment.

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$29.95
per person