Machinery safety is a key element of the manufacturing process and may, at first, appear to be unrelated to the ideas behind sustainability. The aim of this article is to briefly show how a machinery safety approach can be used to implement a sustainable process.

Legislative background
There are 2 main pieces of legislation that govern machinery safety, the European Machinery Directive (implemented in the UK by the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations (SMSR)) and the Work Equipment Directive (implemented in the UK by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER)). SMSR deals with new machinery, prior to use, PUWER looks at machinery that is currently in use. For the purposes of the approach to sustainability, PUWER is the key piece of legislation.

PUWER is made up of 24 regulations that apply to all equipment, with 2 further sections that apply only to Mobile Work Equipment and Power Presses. Most of the regulations deal with a specific machine topics such as Control systems, isolation and markings, however there are a number that look at the wider, company picture and it is these that form the basis of the machinery safety approach to sustainability.

Key regulations
The key regulations from PUWER are Regulations 5, 6 and 9 which cover maintenance, inspection and training respectively. We can now briefly look at these regulations and highlight the important elements.

Regulation 5 states 'Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.' If work equipment is not kept in an efficient state, it will affect the energy and consumable use of the machine. A well maintained machine which works efficiently will assist with any environmental targets that the company may need or want to hit (environmental issues being another key element of sustainability).

Regulation 6 states 'Every employer shall ensure that, where the safety of work equipment depends on the installation conditions, it is inspected to ensure that it has been installed correctly and is safe to operate'. Correctly installed machinery should lead to a safer workplace and also a happier and more content workforce as the company focus is more about people than productivity.

Regulation 9 states 'Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken'. As with the previous regulation, if staff are being trained to do their job correctly, they are likely to feel happier and hence more likely to stay with the company. If the workforce has long term aspirations for staying, they become sustainable and form part of the overall sustainability project. A workforce which is changing regularly is not sustainable.

Conclusion
If you take these elements of PUWER and expand them across your working operations, you can begin to see how machinery safety can become the backbone of a sustainability project. If staff are trained to carry out their role and have a development plan, there long term aims are more likely to be with you rather than looking for a new position. If this is the case, the workforce becomes sustainable as there are fewer changes.

There are many issues to consider when dealing with sustainable manufacturing, which may be off putting when trying to implement such a system. It may be useful to look at other processes that are currently being used within the workplace with a view to using them as a basis for sustainability. Initially, an issue like machinery safety may appear to be unrelated to sustainability, but when you look deep enough, there are elements that can be used. Sustainability should be seen as an integral part of work rather than a cumbersome bolt-on and by using current processes as the backbone of the project, it is more likely to be accepted and become part of everyday working life.