Posted By Colin Harrisskitt I am looking for advice on a suitable guard or tripping/emergency stop devices which would best suit a radial arm drill. HSE guidance note PM10 non current Regards Colin Harrisskitt

Posted By Hilary Charlton Me again, The publication you want is called Drilling Machines Guarding of Spindles and Attachments PM83 ISBN No 0717615464 Price: £6.00 Available from HSE Bookshops Hope this helps. Hilary

Posted By Nick Higginson Colin, Refer to HSE guidance HSG129 "H&S in Engineering Workshops" - there is a section on the key safety features for radial arm drills. As correctly pointed out, they are difficult to guard. From memory, the guidance says that trips are sufficient, or adjustable guarding can be used as an alternative. If you use a trip, it should be no more than 75mm from the tool and positioned within the first 90 degrees rotation from the operators position. Hope this helps. Nick

Posted By Jim Walker Paul, Under PUWER, e-stops are mandatory on all equipment of this nature anyway. Even so by the time the machine had come to a halt you would be well mangled. A DC brake stops in an instant (or nearly). I'm not suggesting this is the only control to use, but I've yet to come across a radial drill situation that did not need a dc brake as part of the control "package". As Nick says,there is some advice in HSG 129 but even that skips lightly over the issues. These machines have been responsible for some nasty accidents. Certainly without veiwing the situation it is difficult to say exactly what is required. Sticking my neck out, a radial arm drill without a DC brake should be removed from service immediatly, until sufficent control measures (as identified by a competent person) are in place.