b'TECHNICAL & RESEARCH COMMITTEETHE SAFETY ISSUES WITH AD HEREMETAL FOLDERS Steve Weinert, T&R ChairWhat is a Metal Folder to the worked that the known repetitive motion issues of a Thetraditionalsheetmetalhandbrakemanual hand brake, they do have several aspects of under-has been automated into machines thatrecognized safety hazards.largelyemulatethemanualmotionsofIn Use Hazards: The machine will open its jaws wide enough handbrakeinasemi-automatedform.to accept a work blank including partially fabricated work in UsuallytheseentrylevelMetalFoldersprogress. The opening may exceed the 1/4-inch regulatory addpowerandindexing,allcontrolledelectronically,toallowance.basic format of the metal hand brake configuration. FullyCalibrationHazards:Oftenatstartup,materialchanges, automatic advanced configurations exist using other metaland some in-process indexing needs, a machine may fully bending technology, and these advanced machines oftenopen, extend and/or close in order to establish start and end minimize the human participation in fabrication.of motion calibration.For our purposes we are looking at the entry level machinesMaintenance Hazards: Some machine service routines also that fold metal like a hand brake does. may fully open, extend and/or close as part of the service Some Examples procedure.Examples of this technology are manufactured by a numberFail-Safe Hazards: Most machines have minimal protection of firms and marketed under a variety of trade names. Whileagainst machine failure, gross operator error, and deliberate not interchangeable they mostly share characteristics. misuse.The under-recognized risks ModeofFailureandSequentialFailureHazards:Infield Whilethein-uselengthysafetytrackrecordfortheseexaminationofseveraltypesofSheetMetalfoldersand metalfoldersissound,andarguablyarelesshazardoussome of the accessory safety gear there was little observed through-engineering dealing with add-on safety equipment 36 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'