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Machinery safety self-check

Is your equipment safe?

Ten honest questions about your machinery, answered the way we run a real assessment: standards first, product last. It takes about two minutes, and you see your results with no email required.

Standards, not sales

Built on ISO 12100 and ISO 13849. On a typical Polaris assessment, most of what we recommend is not something we sell.

The whole lifecycle

From scope through assessment, specification, verification, and validation. Gaps hide between those steps.

Built by manufacturers

Led by a TUV-certified Machinery Safety Expert with decades on the floor. Controls that fit the process, so they do not get bypassed.

This is an educational self-check to show you where to look. It does not replace a formal risk assessment.

Getting started

First, who is running this check?(Required)

This just tailors the wording of your results. Your answers are confidential and are used only to generate the report.

EHS or safety

Plant or operations leadership

Engineering

Owner or general manager

Assessment

Do you have a current, documented risk assessment for each machine or line?(Required)

A living document that identifies each hazard and the control for it, not just install-day notes.

Yes, documented and reviewed on a cycle

Some machines, and I am not sure how current

No, or only informal notes

I am not sure what it should contain

Assessment

When was your equipment last assessed against current machinery safety standards?(Required)

Standards such as ISO 12100 and ISO 13849 are updated periodically. Equipment that was compliant when installed may not be compliant today.

Within the last three years

More than three years ago

Only at original install, or never

Not sure

Specification

For each hazard, is there a defined safety target (a required Performance Level or SIL)?(Required)

The required Performance Level, PLr, sets the bar a safety function has to clear. Without it, there is nothing to verify against.

Yes, a PLr or SIL is defined per safety function

For some, but not documented consistently

I am not familiar with PLr or SIL

Verification

Are your safety functions verified by calculation, rather than assumed from the parts used?(Required)

Buying a safety-rated component does not by itself achieve a Performance Level. Reaching a designated PL requires a calculation across the whole function (MTTFd, DC, CCF).

Yes, calculated and documented

We rely on the ratings of the components we bought

No calculation is performed

Not sure what this means

Verification

When a guard or e-stop is added, is the full function proven end to end?(Required)

A safety function runs from sensor to logic to final element. Bolting on a device is not the same as proving the chain that stops the hazard.

Yes, the whole function is proven and recorded

The device is installed and wired, but the function is not formally proven

Devices are added as needed, with no formal proof

Not sure

Validation

After a safety change or new install, is a formal validation done and recorded before production resumes?(Required)

Validation confirms the installed system actually does what the specification said it would, under real conditions.

Yes, validation is a required step

Informally, or only sometimes

Not sure

Hierarchy of controls

For your most recent hazard, which type of control did you reach for?(Required)

Choose the level you used. The higher on the pyramid, the more effective and the more durable the control.

Elimination — Physical removal of the hazard

Substitution — Replace what produces the hazard

Engineering controls — Isolate people from the hazard

Administrative controls — Change the way people work

PPE — Protect the worker last

Most effective at the top, least effective at the bottom.

Before you settled on it

This is what a standards-driven assessment does before settling on a control.

We evaluated the more effective levels first and documented why they were not feasible.

Operational reality

Do operators ever bypass or defeat a safety device to keep production running?(Required)

A defeated guard is usually a design that fought the process. It is also the single clearest sign a control was never right for the floor.

Never, and we would know if they did

Rarely, or suspected occasionally

Yes, it happens

Not sure

Operational reality

Since the last assessment, has any line been modified or re-purposed without a reassessment?(Required)

New tooling, a moved cell, a changed cycle. Any of these can invalidate the safety case that was previously signed off.

No, changes trigger a reassessment

Possibly, we have no formal trigger for it

Yes

Not sure

Audit readiness

If a regulator, insurer, or customer asked today, could you produce the full safety file for a machine?(Required)

Assessment, specification, verification, and validation, retrievable for a named machine, on demand.

Yes, within a day

Partially, and it would take real effort

Not sure

Is your equipment safe?

Standards, not sales

The whole lifecycle

Built by manufacturers

If you would like to find out more about Polaris Automation or Chordata, fill out and submit the form below, or call us at 614-431-0170.

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