Machine Safety Checklist

Educational workplace-safety awareness — connected to industries, occupations, employment law, employment documents and company types. Informational only — not legal advice and not a substitute for mandatory workplace safety training; employers remain responsible for compliance, training and worker authorization.

What this checklist is for

A machine safety checklist gives operators and supervisors a consistent way to notice the basics on a machine — that guards are in place, stop controls work, isolation is available, and there are no obvious defects or hazards. It is a free educational starting point you can adapt to each machine.

It does not replace the machine-specific risk assessment, the maintenance and inspection a competent person carries out, or the training and authorisation an operator must have. Employers remain responsible for guarding, safe systems of work, maintenance, training and determining competence, following the applicable law and the official authority’s guidance.

What a good version covers

• Guards and interlocks in place, secure and not bypassed.
• Emergency stop and normal stop controls working and reachable.
• A way to isolate and lock off energy for cleaning or maintenance.
• No obvious damage, leaks, loose parts or unusual noise.
• Trapping points, sharp edges and hot surfaces identified and controlled.
• Local exhaust, extraction or coolant working where fitted.
• The right PPE available for the task, where the risk assessment requires it.
• A clear way to report defects and take the machine out of use if unsafe.

How to use and adapt it

• Adapt the items to the specific machine and its hazards.
• Use it as a pre-use prompt at the interval the risk assessment requires.
• Never bypass or remove guards to keep a machine running.
• Record defects, take unsafe machines out of use and report them.
• Keep records so recurring faults are noticed and fixed.
• Defer guarding standards and competence requirements to your risk assessment and the official authority.

Common mistakes

• Bypassing guards or interlocks to save time.
• Cleaning or clearing a jam without isolating and locking off energy.
• Letting untrained or unauthorised people operate the machine.
• Ticking the checklist without actually testing stop controls.
• Treating the checklist as a replacement for maintenance and risk assessment.

Preparing and sharing it

You can export, edit and complete this checklist and save or share it as a PDF, so pre-use machine checks are recorded consistently and defects can be tracked.

Where a completed check needs an operator signature or needs to reach a supervisor or engineer, it can be sent securely as a PDF. The checklist supports awareness and recordkeeping; it does not replace machine guarding, maintenance, the employer’s risk assessment or required machine training.