77Guarding

77 Guarding

(1) This regulation applies to a designer of plant who uses guarding as a measure to control risk associated with the plant.

(2) The designer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the guarding designed for that purpose will prevent access to the danger area of the plant.

(3) The designer must ensure that—

(a) if access to the area of the plant requiring guarding is not necessary during operation, maintenance or cleaning of the plant, the guarding is a permanently fixed physical barrier; or

(b) if access to the area of the plant requiring guarding is necessary during operation, maintenance or cleaning of the plant, the guarding is an interlocked physical barrier that allows access to the area being guarded at times when the area does not present a risk and prevents access to the area at any other time; or

(c) if it is not reasonably practicable to use guarding referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), the guarding used is a physical barrier that can only be altered or removed by the use of tools; or

(d) if it is not reasonably practicable to use guarding referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), the design includes a presence-sensing safeguarding system that eliminates any risk arising from the area of the plant requiring guarding while a person or any part of a person is in the area being guarded.

(4) The designer must ensure that the guarding is designed so that it—

(a) makes bypassing or disabling the guarding, whether deliberately or by accident, as difficult as is reasonably possible; and

(b) does not create a risk in itself.

(5) If the plant to be guarded contains moving parts that may break or that may cause workpieces to be ejected from the plant, the designer must ensure that the guarding will, in relation to any risk from those broken or ejected parts or workpieces—

(a) so far as is reasonably practicable, eliminate the risk; or

(b) if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, reduce the risk so
far as is reasonably practicable.

(6) Despite anything to the contrary in this regulation, any guarding a designer of plant uses as a measure to control risk associated with plant may be of a kind that is able to be removed to allow convenient repair, servicing, maintenance and cleaning of the plant when it is not in normal operation.