# "Don't Worry, Remove The Guard...."



## pops6927 (Mar 6, 2018)

I've actually seen this happen in meatrooms.  Meatcutters rushing to get 'stuff done', taking shortcuts, altering safety features on grinders, cubers, slicers, meat saws, etc.  That Guard mounted on the top of the meat tray preventing fingers from going down into the throat of the grinder, only allowing the plunger access to push down the meat faster?  Some remove it, drill out the rivets holding it in place to 'make things faster'.  Here is the outcome of that brilliant decision:








But, I've seen cutters taken to the hospital with their fingers, hand and part of their arm dragged off to the hospital and their hand and part of the arm cut off, but never actually seen the x-ray of it.  Gruesome, very gruesome.

Another scenario is when the magnetic latch on a cubing machine is bypassed so the cover can be removed so it's 'faster', running pieces of cube material through the cuber one right after another into a big pile, then repeating and laying out on trays.  BUT!  All it takes is a single fingertip to touch the cuber blades momentarily and your entire hand is sucked into the rotating fin blades and the machine stops and they have to call the Fire Department to bring in the Jaws of Life to break the whole machine apart to extract what is left of the hand or hands (the reaction is to grab the one hand with the other, damaging both hands).  I have witnessed this in meat rooms twice (luckily not where I was the manager, only a cutter).  I would never have allowed myself or any of my staff to have performed anything unsafely, but others have and have paid the severe price for it.

You can talk about man-hours or shorten clean-up (leading to bacteria and short shelf life on meats and unsanitary conditions) or anything else you want, but the GOLDEN RULE IS ALWAYS SAFETY FIRST!  I've paid the price myself, cut off a finger and a thumb (two separate incidents) by not working safely.  Luckily, not to the extent of the above, however!

In anything you do, PLEASE BE SAFE!







Cube Steak Machine with the cuber blades shown.  They normally sit in the machine under the smoky cover and the cover is high enough to prevent fingers from getting close to the blades.  But, if you remove the cover, there is a magnetic switch at the bottom right front of the silver part of the machine.  There is a magnet embedded in the smoky plastic cover at the bottom left front of the cover.  When they connect, the machine will run.  As soon as you remove the cover everything stops.  BUT!  If you place a common button magnet on the machine with the cover removed, it will run, but endangering the operator severely.  Yes, 99 times you do it successfully.  But there's that one time when you get distracted (someone playing a practical joke, splashing you with water or accidentally nudging you, anything to distract your attention) and in 1/10th of 1 second it will suck your fingers into the machine, one or both hands of them.  BYPASSING THE SAFETY GUARDS IS NEVER A WISE OPTION!

I apologize if this is too graphic for some, but it is better to be offended vs. injured!

STAY SAFE!


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2018)

Ouch!


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## nanuk (Mar 7, 2018)

I have used that machine.  We called it the tenderizer.
It was not altered, and I always used it slowly and safely.   One day my manager put through some pork steak for his personal use/BBQ.   he didn't bone it....   and the machine didn't care....   chewed through with nary a grunt!
human fingers wouldn't be any harder...

as for grinders, I have never used one without the safety guards, BUT I did push some meat down with my hand....  thankfully I don't have long fingers, or I would have shorter fingers.   I felt the worm....  scared the crap out of me.

my only real accident was the band saw taking off the top of a knuckle when my hand slipped while cutting (Too Fast) some fresh pork center cut chops..... drove my first knuckle into the blade, and pulled straight back, taking out a "Notch"
luckily, I only knicked the tendon!

SAFETY FIRST


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2018)

Hey pops, I've seen similar preventable accidents with power tools on jobs. Those safety features are there for a reason-to keep you safe.


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## xray (Mar 7, 2018)

I’ve taken some nasty x-rays in my day but never a grinder injury...here’s hoping I never have to.

Thank you for the safety tips.


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## atomicsmoke (Mar 7, 2018)

Tragic accidents indeed. I've seen my share of stupidity in a manufacturing environment, but luckily caught before tragedies happened.

Fortunately the industrial worlld learned we need to protect some people from themselves. So now many magnetic interlocks are encoded. You can't just stick a magnet on it to bypass it.


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## gmc2003 (Mar 7, 2018)

I've seen and done some pretty stupid or careless things in my lifetime, but I've never removed any protective equipment.
I remember a few times when I worked as a shipper/receiver in a manufacturing company and I was taking steel rolls off a flatbed. Well I had the forks a little to high for the weight and the rear end started bouncing towards the edge of the truck. Came close that time. Or when we used to stand on just the forks and go up to their full extension to get a small part. Oh to be young and dumb.

Chris


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