Guarding

How it is used

Used in risk assessments, safety audits and cell design. A single barrier is a guard: fixed guards are bolted on, while movable guards such as doors are monitored by interlock switches. People talk about perimeter guarding, missing guards and removing guards for maintenance.

Example sentences

1. The guarding on the back side is too low; someone could reach over it into the cell.

2. Never run the machine with the guarding removed.

Common collocations

• perimeter guarding
• fixed guard
• safety guarding
• remove the guard
• guard door

Related terms

• interlockA safety or control function that prevents a machine from running unless certain conditions are met, for example a door switch that stops the robot when the guard door opens.
• light curtainA safety device with a transmitter and a receiver that create a row of invisible light beams. When a person breaks the beams, the machine is stopped.
• risk assessmentA structured review of a machine or task that identifies hazards, estimates how likely and how serious harm could be, and decides which safety measures are needed.
• robot cellA closed working area with one or more robots and the equipment around them, such as fixtures, conveyors and safety guarding, that performs a task as one unit.
• hazardSomething that could cause injury or damage, such as a moving robot arm, a pinch point, a hot surface, high voltage or stored air pressure.

More terms: Machine and Robot Safety

• emergency stop
• lockout/tagout
• enabling switch
• protective stop
• collision detection