Journal of Ergonomics

Introduction: An important measure for ensuring safety in the operation of industrial machinery is to install proper guards that prevent machine hazards and protect operators. The design of industrial machine guards is a key issue in ergonomics and worker safety and has become a focus of research in hand anthropometry.

The present study was conducted to assess the different hand anthropometric dimensions of employees in an industrial unit and to design a fixed mesh guard in the shape of a rectangle for industrial machines and to use the collected data for the standardization of industrial machine guards in Iran to help prevent machine hazards.

Materials and methods: Thirteen right hand anthropometric dimensions of 97 male and female employees of an industrial unit were examined. To design a standard fixed guard, the length dimensions of the 99th percentile of men and the thickness (diameter) and width of the 1st percentile of women were calculated.

Results: According to the data obtained, a standard fixed guard creates a safe distance of 196.61 mm with the hazardous components of the machine, a gap length of 10.19 mm and a gap width of 8.29 mm. Comparison of 6 parameters, including DIP, PIP, MCP, TE, DPC and WR, with the OSHA regulations showed that PIP and WR had decreased, MCP, DIP and TE had increased and DPC could not be analyzed given the lack of sufficient information on the parameter in the OSHA.

Conclusion: The design of machine guards that help prevent industrial hazards is an integral part of workplace safety. The analysis of DIP, PIP, MCP, TE, DPC and WR in the present study and in a study conducted by Vaillancourt et al. showed some of the parameters to have increased and some to have decreased compared with the OSHA regulations. This study also reveals the need for revising ISIRI 11800, a standard published by the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran.