We have a lathe and vertical mill in our workshop at work. It's always been the wild west - anyone who has access to that area can use them freely with no training or anything else. I'm trying to change that.
I've established a "steering committee" to help with this. None of us are formally trained machinists, but we all have some training and experience.
I sent out the lathe safety/operational test to the team today. One guy insists he needs to wear gloves.
I know gloves are a no-no. I'd love to find a citation from OSHA or some other occupational organization, maybe even a metalworking industry group to be able to cite instead of "I found on hobby-machinist.com" or "I found YouTube videos" or "some jackleg on the internet told me it's a bad idea."
Anybody got anything like that?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not have a specific rule that prohibits the wearing of gloves while operating machinery such as lathes and mills. However, OSHA does have regulations that require employers to assess the hazards associated with the tasks their employees perform, and to provide appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against those hazards.
In some cases, wearing gloves while operating machinery could increase the risk of an accident or injury, such as if the gloves become caught in the moving parts of the machinery. Employers are responsible for assessing the hazards associated with their specific machinery and tasks and determining what PPE, including gloves, is appropriate to protect their workers.
While OSHA does not have a specific regulation or citation that prohibits the wearing of gloves while operating machinery such as lathes, it does offer guidance on when gloves should not be worn. The guidance can be found in OSHA's standard 29 CFR 1910.132(a), which requires employers to assess the hazards present in their workplace and provide appropriate PPE to protect employees against those hazards.
OSHA's General Industry Digest, published in 2019, states that gloves should not be worn while operating certain types of machinery, including lathes, if the gloves could become entangled in the moving parts of the machine. The following excerpt is taken from the OSHA General Industry Digest:
"Wearing gloves can create a hazard when working with machines with moving parts, such as lathes, drills, or milling machines. The gloves can catch on rotating parts, pull the operator's hand into the machine, or make it difficult to perform precise movements. The operator should not wear gloves and should secure long hair and clothing that might get caught in the moving parts."
SO to recap, since employers are legally liable in the event of injury or death, employers, and representatives they may delegate to form a safety committee to write rules can dictate rules they they can justify with a sound reason, which OSHA has provided you.