Posted By Nick Higginson Barry, Hi! Remember me? Have you considered the manual handling/WRULD aspect? HSE publish a contract research report called musculoskeletal problems in cleaning staff ISBN no. 0717624366. Hope it helps. Regards, Nick

Posted By Jane Blunt I assume from the original message that we are talking about metallographic polishing and not floor polishing. Metallographic polishing often begins with a wet grinding wheel, and here there is no particular dust problem, but floods can be a hazard! Less experienced polishers quite often lose control of the object being polished, and it exits the grinding wheel at some speed. Sometimes this is a result of the object snagging on the abrasive paper - making a tear in it. You may need to make discrete enquiries about any incidents of this nature - the damage is usually very small. The beginner will sometimes grind their fingers a little along with the specimen (the cold water that is keeping the wheel wet tends to numb the finger so you don't notice - been there, done that!). The finer stages of polishing are often done with a jelly-like paste on a softer wheel, and here again, the dust hazard may not be as you anticipate - you will need to investigate. Some installations also have electrolytic polishers at the final stage, and I have encountered a fire hazard with one of these on one occasion. It is not unusual for polishing to be followed by a rinse with a highly flammable solvent, with a hot air drier to finish. There is a possible musculo-skeletal aspect. In the machines I have in mind the operator must maintain a consistent force on the object being polished, in a vertically downward direction, for long periods of time. They tend to achieve this with their arms nearly straight (like the way that CPR is taught). If the wheel is too high for the operator, they may be seen standing on their toes with one shoulder raised well above the other for hours on end. Conversely if the wheel is too low they get serious back-ache. All this assumes manual polishing. For some applications there are automatic machines into which you load the sample and leave it to do the business! Metallographic polishing is frequently followed by etching. Etching generally requires fairly aggressive (and sometimes positively dangerous)chemicals. These are often mixed in-house to a cocktail that will give exactly the right result on the specimen being examined. Jane

Posted By Robert K Lewis You best go back to PUWER 98 for the requirements as most previous has been subsumed into them. By the way the exemption applied only to abrasive wheels as defined in the old regulations. Polishing machines did not fall into this and so technically the whole of the polishing head needed enclosing, but that need has now gone so the courts won't have to rule on an accident now!!!! Bob

Posted By Edward H Ah.... in this hi-tech world at last an opportunity to deal with good old machines... Your assumptions are absolutely correct. There are basically three areas that require guarding: 1. The spindle between the motor casing and the polishing mop - the polishers will need to change mops frequently [different sizes for different jobs] and the spindle has a very long rundown time so the polishers like to grab the spindle to slow it to a stop faster. A form of guarding that allows them to do this safely is to cover the spindle in an appropriate length of rubber tubing of a diam larger than the spindle [there is often a short section of the motor casing just where the spindle emerges which you can fit the tube over & clamp with a jubilee clip] The polishers can then still brake the spindle by squeezing the rubber tube. 2. The polishing mop - this should be enclosed to the greatest extent practicable by the extraction cowl but often large areas have to be left exposed. Being soft the risk of entanglement on the mop itself is much lower. 3. The short section of tapered threaded shaft not covered by the mop. Often enclosed by an extension off of the extraction cowl although I have seen a large natural cork used on the basis that if you get wrapped on to the natural cork the cork will disintegrate rather that pull you in! Any COSHH assessment will require LEV another point to watch for is that LEV used whilst polishing aluminium must not be used for any ferrous polishing [fire & explosion risk from thermite reaction]. Hope this helps