The following checklist shows some of the issues that you should cover when making an assessment of the sufficiency of machinery safeguards.

1. How could employees be hurt? E.g., from sharp edges, traps, rotating parts, cleaning, maintenance.
2. How obvious are the hazards?
3. Under what circumstances will employees need to gain access to the dangerous parts of a machine?
4. How often do they need to do this? How close to the dangerous parts do they need to get? And how long does the process take?
5. Is the machinery running or isolated at the time? Are there likely to be any other particular hazards at the time?
6. How easy is it to approach the danger area?
7. How far is access restricted by guarding or position?
8. To what extent can access be gained by removing or defeating safeguards?
9. Are the operators at risk competent? Do they have a clear perception of dangers?
10. Do the operators have the skills and motivation to take the full precautions that are necessary to avoid risk or injury?
11. Is human error likely to create a danger?
12. How can the risks be minimised?
13. What controls are used to ensure that precautions are maintained?

For further guidance on this please contact HealthSafetyHelpdesk@warwick.ac.uk