Prevent injuries from dough machine rollers

Dough machine rollers can cause serious injuries

Dough machine rollers can cut or crush hands and fingers and cause serious injuries, including amputations. A dough machine's rollers crushed three fingers on an employee's hand after she raised the machine's cover to clear dough from blocked rollers. A safety switch designed to shut down the rollers when the cover was open failed to operate and the rollers caught and drew in the employee's hand.

Your legal duties

Employers, self-employed persons, employees, designers, manufacturers and suppliers all have legal obligations to workplace safety under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act) and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations).

Find out about your occupational health and safety obligations relating to plant on WorkSafe's Plant and your legal duties page.

How to control risks from dough machine rollers

Employers must eliminate, so far as is reasonably practicable, health and safety risks in the workplace, including risks from dough machine rollers. If they can’t eliminate the risks, employers must reduce the risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

Consider the following when selecting risk control measures for dough machine rollers:

• install a physical barrier, for example, a cover, guard or safety bar fitted with an interlock switch which stops moving parts when employees access danger zones to clear blockages or for general cleaning and maintenance
• isolate the dough machine from its power source before cleaning or adjusting the machine
• ensure all nip and trap points, such as the inlet chute, are guarded to avoid injury to hands or fingers
• maintain equipment in safe working condition to prevent faulty operation
• have a competent person perform daily inspections and tests of the machine's safety features
• develop procedures for safe operation of the machine and keep a copy of the procedures near the machine
• train and instruct workers on safe working procedures and ensure only trained employees operate the machine
• place signs on or near the dough machine to alert workers to the dangers of operating the machine

Machinery safety standards

Standards Australia has information about machinery safety, including guidelines, procedures and specifications. Consider the standard AS/NZS 4024.1201:2014 Safety of machinery Part 1201: General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction.