Thousands of workers are injured each year on the job in machine operations. Employees can suffer from amputations, lacerations, limb extraction, etc. While millions of Americans work in jobs with dangerous machines, the safety of an employee is often over looked because of the reluctance of upper management to spend money on safety precautions.

Severe lacerations or amputations can occur quite freqently with moving machine parts. Machine guards are essential to protect workers from preventable injuries. Whenever the operation of a machine can injure the operator or others, the hazards must be either eliminated or designed out of a product.

If this is not possible and the hazard cannot be eliminated, it must be guarded against and a warning must be provided to avoid the hazard. This is commonly known as 'Engineering Hierarchy': design out, guard against and warn.

Many guarding principles have been in use in the industry for over 100 years. For example, the first patent for an interlocking guard was awarded in 1899 for a power press. However, while guarding technology has been readily available for decades, many manufacturers fail to avail itself of basic safety engineering that could save lives and prevent needless suffering and tragedy. Because of this neglect or disregard for a company's employees, the creation of a employee compensation lawsuit may occur to bring safety to a workplace and dissolve remaing threats.

There are many types of guards that are appropriate for different products depending on the use for which the product is intended. Fixed barrier guards, moveable interlocking guards or even sensors and light curtains that can sense and detect when limbs or appendages have entered.

Quite often, guards that interfered with the operation of machinery and which were removed are very common in causing serious injury to an individual. If the manufacturer could have, and should have reasonably expected that the guard would be removed, the removal of the guard does not shield the manufacturer from liability.

It is advisable to conctact an experienced worker's safety law firm if an employer does not supply adequate safety gear for an individual. When an employer refuses to ensure the safety of its workers, or merely disregards the safety of its workers, they can be held responsible.