U. S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Directorate of Science, Technology and Medicine

Office of Science and Technology Assessment

Safety and Health Information Bulletin

SHIB 03-07-16

This Safety and Health Information Bulletin is

not a standard or regulation, and it creates no

new legal obligations. The Bulletin is advisory

in nature, informational in content, and is intended to assist employers in providing a safe

and healthful workplace. The Occupational

Safety and Health Act requires employers to

comply with hazard-specific safety and health

standards. In addition, pursuant to Section

5(a)(1), the General Duty Clause of the Act,

employers must provide their employees with a

workplace free from recognized hazards likely to

cause death or serious physical harm. Employers

can be cited for violating the General Duty

Clause if there is a recognized hazard and they

do not take reasonable steps to prevent or abate

the hazard. However, failure to implement these

recommendations is not, in itself, a violation of

the General Duty Clause. Citations can only be

based on standards, regulations, and the General

Duty Clause.

Purpose

The purpose of this Safety and Health

Information Bulletin is:

1. To inform users of a pinch point hazard

associated with certain semiautomatic

shirt pressing “cabinet presses”;

2. To recommend that all laundry employers

who own shirt pressing “cabinet presses”

check to determine whether such a pinch

point hazard exists in the operation of

any one of their cabinet presses; and

3. To provide information that employers

can use to address this hazard.

Background

OSHA’s Springfield, Massachusetts Area Office

brought to the attention of the Directorate of

Science, Technology and Medicine an accident

involving the operation of a semiautomatic shirt

pressing cabinet press (photo #1). The machine,

a shirt press that presses the body of a dress

shirt, consists of a mannequin or “buck,” which

the operator dresses with a shirt at a loading

table, and a cabinet, which contains the press

heads. The buck is transferred into the cabinet

of the machine by simultaneously depressing and

holding the machine’s two transfer buttons and a

foot pedal until the buck enters the press. When

the buck is inside the cabinet, the two halves of

the press automatically close for a 26-secondtimed cycle. At the end of the timed cycle, the

press automatically opens, and the buck is

transferred out of the cabinet and returned to the

dressing table.

This cabinet press is also equipped with a cancel

button, which when depressed, halts the press

cycle and returns the buck to the dressing

position. In addition, the machine is equipped

with safety bars on both sides of the entrance to

the cabinet that function as cancel buttons which

stop the operation of the press. They protect the

 Cabinet Press Pinch Point Hazard
operator from getting caught by the buck as it

enters the cabinet. However, the machine’s

controls do not have a means to arrest the

automatic transfer of the buck out of the press

during or after a press cycle. This creates a

pinch point hazard between the buck and the end

of the 10-inch by 48-inch opening (photo #2) at

the dressing position.

Accident Investigation

The accident investigation revealed that, after

the buck is transferred into the cabinet press, it

leaves an opening (roughly 10-inches wide by

48-inches long) in the loading table (dressing

table) or starting position. Upon activation of the

press’ transfer controls, an automatic cycle is

initiated. At the conclusion of the cycle, the

buck returns to the initial position on the loading

table. There is no cancel, or emergency stop

button on this press to halt the motion of the

buck as it returns to the initial position on the

loading table.

The accident occurred when the operator dressed

the buck and initiated the press cycle. For

unknown reasons, the operator placed her head,

upper body, and right arm into the 10-inch by

48-inch opening in the dressing table and was

fatally crushed between the buck and the frame

of the machine when the buck automatically

returned to the starting position at the dressing

table at the end of the pressing cycle.

Other Information

The American National Standards Institute has a

standard for commercial laundry and drycleaning operations, ANSI Z 8.1-1996.

Paragraph 4.4.2.2 of Z 8.1 requires that:

A manually or automatically timed

cabinet press shall require the operator to

press with both hands simultaneously

two buttons to initiate the transfer of the

buck into the cabinet. Upon releasing

one or both buttons before the transfer

cycle is complete, the transfer of the buck

shall immediately cease and the press

shall not close.

If the cabinet press is equipped with an

interlocking barrier guard, a peripheral

safety bar, or a device which prevents the

operator placing his/her hand

inadvertently inside the cabinet during

the transfer of the buck into the cabinet,

then upon releasing one or both buttons

immediately after initiating the transfer

of the buck with both hands on two

buttons simultaneously, the pressing

cycle shall continue; such safety device

shall trip by a force of 15 pounds or less

and shall without delay cancel the timed

cycle, stop the transfer of the buck,

prevent the closing of the heated chests,

or open the press if closed, and render the

press inoperative. The press shall not

resume operation upon the release of the

safety device unless the two operating

buttons are simultaneously pressed with

both hands.

On any cabinet press, a STOP, CANCEL,

OR RELEASE button shall also be

provided within the reach of the operator

to override instantly the timed cycle, stop

the transfer of the buck into the press,

and open the press.

The ANSI standard indicates that, if the cabinet

press is not equipped with an interlocking barrier

guard, a peripheral safety bar, or a device which

prevents the operator placing his/her hand

inadvertently inside the cabinet, once the

operator releases one or both initiation buttons,

the transfer of the buck shall cease and the press

shall not close. However, if the cabinet press is

equipped with an interlocking barrier and other

safety devices, the pressing cycle shall continue

unless one of the safety devices is tripped.

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The ANSI Z 8.1 standard, however, does not

contain requirements to protect the 10-inch by

48-inch opening at the starting position. The

cabinet press involved in the accident is

equipped with various safeguards to protect

employees from the hazard created when the

buck moves into the cabinet, and the cabinets

close, but it does not have safety devices to

protect the 10-inch by 48-inch opening at the

starting position. Thus, once the timed cycle is

initiated, the press will complete the cycle unless

one of the various safety devices is tripped. This

action should stop the transfer of the buck.

However, for the press involved in the accident,

activation of any of the machine’s safety devices

or depressing the cancel button during an

initiated cycle results in the cancellation of the

timed cycle causing the buck to automatically

return to the starting position.

OSHA’s machine guarding standard, 29 CFR

1910.212 (a)(1), requires employers to provide a

method of machine guarding to protect

employees from hazards created by point of

operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, etc.

On this cabinet press, the press is not equipped

with machine guarding or other safety devices to

prevent employees from having any part of their

bodies in the 10-inch by 48-inch table opening

during the press cycle or a stopping device to

halt motion of the buck back to the loading table.

Thus, workers were exposed to a hazard created

by the returning buck and the frame of the

machine.

Conclusions

All employers who own cabinet presses with a

pinch point hazard at the loading table must

protect employees from pinch point hazards.

Barrier guards or other safety devices that once

initiated will render the press inoperative, stop

the buck on its track, and require a deliberate

action to return the buck to the starting position,

can protect workers from the pinch point hazards

created between the buck and the opening at the

starting position.

Employers are encouraged to determine if the

buck stops on its track once any of the safety

devices is tripped or continues its return to the

starting position. If the buck does not stop

immediately on its track after one of the safety

devices is tripped, the employer can either install

a barrier guard on the opening to prevent

employees from reaching into the opening or

retrofit the press so that, if the cancel button is

pressed or any of the safety devices are tripped,

the press shall immediately be rendered

inoperative and the press shall not resume

operation unless the two operating buttons are

simultaneously pressed with both hands.

The employer who owned the cabinet press

involved in the accident replaced the press with a

newer model. On the newer model, at the end of

the press cycle, the cabinet press simply opens,

and the machine stops until the operator initiates

buck return by depressing and maintaining

pressure on both of the hand control buttons. If

one or both of the hand control buttons is

released at any time during the buck return, the

buck will stop until both buttons are again

depressed and held down until the buck returns

to its initial starting position. In addition, a new

emergency stop (E-STOP) and reset buttons have

been added to the machine. The E-STOP ceases

all machine functions and halts buck transfers at

anytime. The new model also has a buzzer that

sounds and a red transfer light that illumniates

during buck return to warn the operator that the

buck is returning from the cabinet.

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4

Photo #1

 Photo #2

Buck at starting position Cabinet

Opening at starting position with the

buck inside the cabinet