A Practical First Step for Identifying Machine Guarding Concerns
Machine guarding issues are not always obvious. Missing guards may be easy to recognize, but other concerns—such as excessive openings, inadequate safety devices, unexpected restart conditions, or access to hazardous motion—can be more difficult to identify during routine operations.
The Machine Guarding Gap Checklist is a practical screening tool designed to help manufacturing, safety, engineering, maintenance, and operations teams take a structured look at existing machinery and identify potential safeguarding gaps that may require further evaluation.
It is not intended to replace a formal machine risk assessment. Instead, it provides a consistent starting point for asking the right questions and identifying where additional attention may be needed.
Download the Machine Guarding Gap Checklist
What Is a Machine Guarding Gap Checklist?
A Machine Guarding Gap Checklist is a structured review used to compare existing machine safeguarding conditions against commonly recognized machine safety and risk-reduction principles.
Rather than beginning with detailed calculations or an extensive risk assessment, the checklist helps answer a simpler question:
“Do we see anything here that should be investigated further?”
The checklist can be used to identify potential concerns involving physical guarding, access to hazards, safety devices, controls, restart conditions, emergency stopping, and the general integrity of existing safeguarding.
What Does the Checklist Review?
The checklist provides a practical review of common machine safeguarding considerations, including:
- Physical Guarding — Are hazardous areas adequately guarded against unintended access?
- Guard Openings & Gaps — Could personnel reach through, over, under, or around existing guarding?
- Interlocked Guards — Do movable guards appropriately interact with the machine's safety system?
- Presence-Sensing Devices — Are light curtains, scanners, mats, or other devices appropriately positioned and applied?
- Emergency Stops — Are emergency stopping devices accessible and appropriate for the machine?
- Unexpected Restart — Could the machine automatically or unexpectedly restart following a power interruption or other condition?
- Machine Controls — Are start, stop, reset, and operating controls clearly identified and appropriately located?
- Safeguarding Condition — Has guarding been damaged, modified, removed, bypassed, or otherwise compromised?
The goal is not simply to determine whether a guard exists. It is to evaluate whether the overall safeguarding approach appears appropriate for how people actually operate, clean, maintain, adjust, and interact with the machine.
Who Should Use This Tool?
The Machine Guarding Gap Checklist can be useful for:
- EHS and safety professionals
- Plant and facility managers
- Manufacturing engineers
- Controls engineers
- Maintenance personnel
- Operations leaders
- Machine safety teams
- Corporate safety and engineering groups
It can be used for a single machine, a production area, or as part of a broader facility-wide machine safety review.
When Should You Use It?
Consider using the checklist when:
- Reviewing older or legacy equipment
- Walking a production area for potential safeguarding concerns
- Preparing for a more detailed machine risk assessment
- Evaluating recently modified machinery
- Reviewing machines following an incident or near miss
- Standardizing machine safety reviews across departments or facilities
- Building an initial machine safety improvement plan
- Periodically checking the condition of existing safeguarding
The checklist can also help organizations create a more consistent way for different departments and facilities to discuss machine safety.
What Should You Do With the Findings?
Finding a potential gap does not automatically mean a machine is unsafe or noncompliant. It means the condition deserves additional review.
Potential gaps should be documented and evaluated based on factors such as the hazard involved, potential severity, frequency of exposure, safeguarding currently in place, and the work being performed.
This is where a simple checklist begins to connect to a broader machine safety strategy.
Identify the gap → Evaluate the risk → Establish priority → Determine risk-reduction measures → Implement → Validate → Maintain
The Machine Guarding Gap Checklist helps with the first step: identifying where attention may be needed.
Download the Machine Guarding Gap Checklist
Use the downloadable Machine Guarding Gap Checklist PDF during machine walkthroughs, internal reviews, maintenance inspections, or preliminary safeguarding evaluations.
[Download the Machine Guarding Gap Checklist PDF]
For a more interactive review, use the associated online tool:
[Use the Machine Guarding Gap Checklist Tool]
You Found a Gap. What Comes Next?
Not every machine safety concern carries the same level of risk or requires the same level of urgency.
Once potential gaps have been identified, the next step is determining which issues should be addressed first.
Continue to the next Machine Safety Toolkit resource:
Machine Safety Priority Matrix
Use the Machine Safety Priority Matrix to organize identified concerns, compare relative priorities, and begin building a practical machine safety improvement roadmap.
[Continue to the Machine Safety Priority Matrix →]
Important Use Notice
This checklist is intended as a general screening and educational tool and is not a substitute for a formal machine risk assessment performed by qualified personnel. Identifying or not identifying an item through this checklist does not establish compliance with OSHA regulations, ANSI B11 standards, NFPA requirements, or other applicable regulations and standards.
Machine-specific hazards, operating conditions, safeguarding requirements, control-system requirements, and applicable standards should be evaluated as part of a comprehensive machine safety assessment.
