Product Overview

Summary: This Safety Operating Procedure sets out clear, practical safety checks for metal fabrication machinery, helping you control the high-risk environment of cutting, bending, drilling and welding operations. It provides a consistent, auditable process for pre-start inspections, guarding verification, and fault escalation so your workers can operate machinery safely and your business can demonstrate WHS due diligence.

Metal fabrication workshops are high‑risk environments where workers interact daily with guillotines, presses, bandsaws, drills, welders, grinders and CNC equipment. A single missed safety check – such as a damaged guard, inoperative emergency stop, or faulty isolation switch – can result in serious lacerations, crush injuries, amputations or electric shock. This Safety Operating Procedure provides a structured, step‑by‑step framework for conducting and documenting safety checks on metal fabrication machinery before, during and after use, ensuring hazards are identified early and controlled effectively.

Tailored to the Australian WHS landscape, the procedure aligns with the hierarchy of control, guarding requirements and plant regulations expected by regulators and auditors. It supports supervisors and operators to perform consistent pre‑start inspections, verify guarding and interlocks, confirm PPE, and follow clear escalation pathways when faults are found. By embedding this SOP into daily operations, businesses can reduce unplanned downtime, strengthen compliance with WHS legislation and Australian Standards, and build a safety culture where workers know exactly what “safe to use” looks like for every piece of machinery in the workshop.

Key Benefits

• Ensure metal fabrication machinery is inspected and verified as safe before each use.
• Reduce the likelihood of serious injuries from unguarded, damaged or malfunctioning equipment.
• Demonstrate compliance with Australian WHS plant and machinery requirements during audits and inspections.
• Standardise pre-start checks and fault reporting across all shifts and workshop locations.
• Minimise unplanned downtime and costly repairs by identifying defects early.

Who is this for?

• Workshop Supervisors
• Fabrication Managers
• Boilermakers
• Metal Fabrication Tradespersons
• Apprentice Fabricators
• Maintenance Fitters
• WHS Managers and Advisors
• Engineering Managers
• Production Coordinators
• Safety Representatives / HSRs

Hazards Addressed

• Entanglement in rotating parts such as drills, lathes and rollers
• Crush and pinch injuries from presses, guillotines and folding machines
• Sever cuts and amputations from saw blades, shears and cutting equipment
• Impact injuries from ejected workpieces, offcuts or broken tooling
• Electric shock from damaged cords, plugs, leads or poorly maintained equipment
• Burns and eye injuries from welding, grinding and hot work
• Noise-induced hearing loss from prolonged exposure to high-noise machinery
• Slips, trips and falls due to poor housekeeping around machinery
• Exposure to metal dusts, fumes and sparks without adequate controls
• Manual handling injuries from poorly supported or unsecured metal stock

Included Sections

• 1.0 Purpose and Scope
• 2.0 Definitions and Types of Metal Fabrication Machinery
• 3.0 Roles and Responsibilities
• 4.0 Legal and WHS Compliance Requirements
• 5.0 Required PPE and Safety Equipment
• 6.0 General Safety Principles for Metal Fabrication Machinery
• 7.0 Pre-Start Safety Check Procedure
• 8.0 In-Operation Monitoring and Ongoing Checks
• 9.0 Post-Use and Shutdown Safety Checks
• 10.0 Guarding, Interlocks and Emergency Stop Verification
• 11.0 Electrical Safety and Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) Requirements
• 12.0 Housekeeping, Access and Workspace Layout Around Machinery
• 13.0 Fault Identification, Tagging Out and Reporting Process
• 14.0 Contractor and Visitor Controls in the Workshop
• 15.0 Training, Competency and Authorisation of Operators
• 16.0 Recordkeeping, Checklists and Audit Requirements
• 17.0 Incident, Near Miss and Equipment Failure Response
• 18.0 Review, Consultation and Continuous Improvement

Legislation & References

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth and harmonised state/territory versions)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 – Part 5: Plant and Structures
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Welding Processes
• AS 4024 series: Safety of machinery
• AS/NZS 3000: Electrical installations (Wiring Rules)
• AS/NZS 4801: Occupational health and safety management systems (superseded but still widely referenced)
• AS/NZS 1337.1: Personal eye protection
• AS/NZS 2161 series: Occupational protective gloves