Health Safety Codes & Standards for a Piano Factory
- A piano manufacturing facility is considered a factory.piano image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com
The federal government organization responsible for safety laws in factories is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, and the health and safety codes for piano factories fall under OSHA's jurisdiction. OSHA sets the safety standards for various jobs in a factory, such as woodworking machine and finishing room safeguards. If you are involved with a piano factory, bear in mind OSHA mandates are not recommendations, but rather laws. Breaking any of the OSHA laws leads to severe fines and even a possible shutdown. - A piano factory uses diverse woodworking machinery that needs to meet safety regulations. Some regulations include machine guards covering saws and limiting the size of saw blades. Other regulations state automatic saws must be able to be stopped at any time by an operator. Still another regulation is all pulleys and belts must have shielding guards to prevent fingers or other body parts from becoming entrapped.
- Woodworking machinery create significant amounts of noise, and OSHA seeks to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. OSHA has three methods that can be used to protect hearing: source control, path control and hearing protection. Source control involves placing sound shielding, such as insulation, on the machine to reduce noise. Path control involves placing the machine far away from an occupied area or to erect noise-absorbing walls around the machine. Hearing protection involves using ear plugs and ear muffs to reduce the amount of noise entering the ear.
- Many piano finishes, such as polyurethane or lacquers, contain chemicals harmful to the human body. Because of the inhalation hazard, OSHA has laws concerning finishing rooms. The list of regulations is extensive, but all point to the common goal of worker safety. Some of the laws state that a worker must wear a respirator and coveralls. Other regulations state the spray room must be ventilated to prevent the unsafe accumulation of vapors.
- For all facilities, housekeeping standards for sawdust are in force. Some of these include putting collection systems on all saws and machines that produce sawdust. Since sawdust is flammable, OSHA set the limit of sawdust in the air to 15 milligrams per cubic meter of air, or about 5 thousandths per cubic yard. This is one sawdust speck per cubic yard of air. This may not seem like a lot, but a piano factory has thousands of cubic yards of air. Furthermore, OSHA states that sawdust is a known health hazard with some hardwoods as a possible cause of nasal cancer. For these reasons, all factories that produce sawdust must comply with this air quality regulation.
