Hazards associated with injection molding machines are crushing injuries or amputations and occur if a worker:
Reaches into a machine for any reason.
Reaches around, under, or over guards.
Operates a machine with missing or inoperable guards or interlocks.
Not used to the equipment.
Injection molding machines can cause the following:
Eye irritation or damage.
Breathing problems.
Lung damage or cancer.
Worsening of existing health problems.
Risk of explosion or fire.
The main causes of injuries within plastic molding manufacturing are:
Muscular stress caused by manual handling (the largest cause of all injuries in the industry)
Slipping or tripping
Chemical exposures
Accidents with machinery, tools, and equipment
STATS
14% of all reportable accidents happened as a result of contacting moving machinery. Machine safety resulted in the largest number of enforcement notices served by HSE in plastic companies.
According to BLS data, the rate of occupational injuries resulting in lost workdays was 21% higher for plastics processing.
The 30 reports concerned 26 accidents and/or interventions involving plastic injection moulding machines, one accident/intervention related to a rubber injection moulding machine, one accident/intervention related to a thermoforming machine, and two others related to blow moulding machines. However, the examples presented in this section and the main topics developed therefrom relate only to injection moulding machines.