b'TECHNICAL & RESEARCH COMMITTEEintegrity,failure,sequential(multiple)failure,andothercomplex in places and pretty absent in other places.At the interference. In most observed cases these add-on systemsinternationallevel ANSIstandardsappear,whichseveral were unreliable and often bypassed or ignored. countries have domestic regulations covering some aspects of sheet metal folders.ayoungoperatorWhat Standards Saypinched the very tipsHere we start our trip down the rabbit hole, as at the ANSI Levelsheetmetalfoldersareofferedanexemptionfrom of his thumbs in onemany ANSI B Level standards and no ANSI C level (more of our machines specific) standard has been approved. been left to the Largely the safety of these machines has Casualties and consequences of not managing this risk equipment manufacturers or local domestic regulations.Im writing this article because a young operator pinched theWhat other Safety Jurisdictions Sayvery tips of his thumbs in one of our machines.A purposefulIn most countries and safety jurisdictions compliance with decisiontouseanundersizedblank,toonarrowfortherelevant ANSI standards meets the localized requirements. automatic indexing of the machine, put his hands in harmsOne manufacturers machine researched was found to be way. compliant in over 110 countries.WhileitwasahumanerrorinjudgmentandviolationofAfewcasessomelocaladditionalregulationswere training, not to mention safety rules, our operator got offdiscovered, but the purposes seemed to be less sheet metal lightly with minor injuries.folder specific than localization like requiring translations into Ininvestigatingbestpractices,Ididlearnofsomeverythe local language for signage, labels and documentation.traumatic injuries individuals received by basically puttingWhat OSHA Saystheir hands or even arms into the machine while in operation.Here in the USA we have an interesting situation where the Privacy rules kept the full investigation results confidential,DoLs OSHA participates in the ANSI program from an input making it impossible to establish exactly how they ended up& development angle, sometimes makes reference to ANSI hurting themselves, whether there were other issues leadingstandards, but sets ANSI aside when it comes time to make to the gross misjudgment or even if the injuries were fullysafety evaluations.accidental.From the level of publicly faced information available it isMeetingwithOSHAofficialsdoesntmakethesituation pretty certain that some of the injured were not returned tomuch clearer, as we seem unique in participating in the ANSI duty.Again, the reasons are obscured by privacy rules.development but ignoring it for regulatory enforcement.Misused or accidental injuries of metal folders will hurt andWithout wading too far into the murky pools of the reasons may be life changing. why, the net effect is the exemption in the ANSI B standards for Metal Folders is not recognized by OSHA, and where Brief History OSHA lacks a specific regulatory stance a gravitation to the Metal Folders came to the USA market in the 1970s andgeneral duty clause becomes the default standard.1980s as affordable fabrication equipment intended for theIn our situation OSHA asked us to implement add-on safety architectural sheet metal shop. gear that while mentioned on-line is unavailable - we couldnt Earlyequipmenthadlimitedfeaturesetsandmayhaveeven gain access to a prototype.needed to be programed for each series of bends.By theWe next investigated if we could roll our own by looking mid-1980smanyofthemachinesfeaturedsomesortofatanygearouttherewecouldfindandbybringingin graphical control head and way to store programs for reuse. professional engineers to try to develop add-on safety gear.By the 2010s the machines often became network aware,Limiting Laws of Physicsgain varying levels of auto-calibration, and may have a touchPhysicallytherearesomeseverelimitationsonsensor screen to access built-in design layout logic. placement, sensor capabilities to distinguish between the Resolution of indexing and repeatability between pieces ofwork material and the operator, difficulties with co-location production runs greatly improved over this 30+ year history,of sensor axis with the geometric axis of operation of the while the basic machine designs largely remained the same. equipment and other conflicts.ThelimitationsinmitigatingriskexposureswithMetalWe were unable, as were the engineers and consultants Folders employed also unable, to find off the shelf sensor technologies Regulatory Quagmire that could be used.The laws of physics stood in the way.The safety regulations for a Metal Folder are surprisinglyLimiting Laws of Economicswww.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer 37'