ANSI/ASAE S493.

1 JUL2003 (R2008)
Guarding for Agricultural Equipment

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needs within the scope of the Society; principally agricultural eld equipment, farmstead equipment, structures, soil
and water resource management, turf and landscape equipment, forest engineering, food and process engineering,
electric power applications, plant and animal environment, and waste management.

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ANSI/ASAE S493.1 JUL2003 (R2008)
Revision approved July 2003; reaffirmed February 2008 as an American National Standard

Guarding for Agricultural Equipment

Proposed to ASAE by the Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute;

developed and approved by the ASAE Agricultural Safety Committee and
by the ASAE Power and Machinery Division Standards Committee;
adopted by ASAE April 1988; approved as an American National
Standard July 1989; reaffirmed by ASAE December 1992; reaffirmed by
ANSI July 1993; reaffirmed by ASAE December 1997; reaffirmed by
ANSI November 1998; reaffirmed by ASAE February 2003; revised July
2003; approved by ANSI July 2003; reaffirmed by ASABE and ANSI
February 2008.

Keywords: Guarding, Safety, Shielding

Figure 2 Casing
1 Purpose and scope
1.1 This Standard provides general guidelines for guarding for
agricultural equipment so as to provide a reasonable degree of personal
safety for operators and other persons during the normal operation and 3.1.3 Enclosure: Protective device which by means of a rail, fence,
servicing of such equipment. frame or the like ensures the safety distance on all sides necessary so
the hazard/hazardous area cannot be reached inadvertently.
1.2 This Standard applies to agricultural equipment as identified in ASAE
Standard S390. 3.1.4 Barrier: Protective device such as a rail, fence, frame, or the like
designed and fitted so that, alone or with other parts of the machine, it
prevents the hazard/hazardous area from being reached inadvertently.
2 Normative references
3.2 Inadvertent contact: Contact between a person and a hazard
The following standards contain provisions that, through reference in this resulting from the persons unplanned actions when operating or
text, constitute provisions of the Standard. At the time of publication, the servicing the equipment.
editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to revision and
parties to agreements based on this Standard are encouraged to 3.3 Hot surface: A surface which reaches operating temperatures in
investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the excess of 130 C and which could involve injury by inadvertent contact.
standards indicated below. Standards organizations maintain registers of 3.4 Safety distance: Minimum distance between a hazard/hazardous
currently valid standards. area and a guard required to reasonably minimize the possibility of
2.1 ASAE S390.3 JUN01, Definitions of Agricultural Field Equipment inadvertent contact with the hazard/hazardous area. This distance is
typically reach around a barrier or reach through an opening in a guard.
2.2 ASAE S441.3 FEB99, Safety Signs
3.5 Safety distance guarding: A means of providing guarding where
the possibility of inadvertent contact with the hazard is reasonably
3 Definitions minimized by the combination of the guard configuration (including
3.1 Guard: A protective device designed and fitted to reasonably openings) and the safety distance between the guard and the hazard/
minimize the possibility of inadvertent contact with machinery hazards, as hazardous area.
well as to restrict access to other hazardous areas. There are four types 3.6 Machinery hazard: Machinery parts which can cause injury upon
of guards, each consistent with the requirements of safety distance as direct contact or by entanglement of personal apparel. This includes, but
defined in paragraph 3.4 below: is not limited to, pinch points, nip points, and projections on rotating
3.1.1 Shield or cover: Protective devices designed and fitted so that parts.
alone or with other parts of the machine, they prevent the hazard/
hazardous area being reached from the side or sides covered. (see
figure 1)
3.1.2 Casing: Protective device designed and fitted so that, alone or
with other parts of the machine, it prevents contact with the hazard/
hazardous area from all sides. (see figure 2)

Figure 1 Shield and cover

Figure 3

ASABE STANDARDS 2008 ANSIASAE S493.1 JUL2003 R2008 1

 Table 1

Table 2

2 ANSIASAE S493.1 JUL2003 R2008 ASABE STANDARDS 2008

 Table 3

3.7 Guarding by location: A hazard is guarded by location when it is conditions of operation, service and safe practices as specified by the
guarded by other parts or components of the machine that are not manufacturer in the operators manual and by signs on the machine.
themselves guards, or when the hazard is beyond the safety distance.
3.8 Nip-point: A type of pinch point characteristic of components such
as meshing gears and the run-on point where a belt, chain or cable 4 Guarding requirements
contacts a sheave, sprocket or idler. 4.1 Components which must be exposed for proper function, drainage or
3.9 Ground-driven components: Components which are powered by cleaning shall be guarded to the maximum extent that is practicable and
the forward or rearward motion of equipment traveling over the ground. reasonable as permitted by the intended operation or use.
3.10 Normal operation and service: Use of the machine for the 4.2 Where paragraph 4.1 does not apply and where hazard elimination
purposes and in the manner intended by the manufacturer by an operator through design is not technically feasible and functionally practicable,
familiar with the machine characteristics and complying with the machinery hazards shall be guarded by location, or with guard(s), or by
safety distance guarding as described in Section 6Safety Distance
Guarding. Examples of such hazards are:
4.2.1 Moving traction elements in relation to the operators station.
4.2.2 Revolving engine components.
4.2.3 Nip-points.
4.2.4 Outside faces of pulleys, sheaves, sprockets and gears.
4.2.5 Revolving shafts, universal joints, and other revolving parts with
projections such as exposed bolts, keys, pins or set screws. Revolving
shafts excluded are:
4.2.5.1 Smooth shafts revolving at less than 10 rpm.
4.2.5.2 Smooth shaft ends protruding less than one half the outside
diameter of the shaft.
4.2.6 Surfaces which create shearing or pinching hazards.
4.2.7 Ground-driven components, if operating personnel are required to
be in the area while the drives are in motion.
4.2.7.1 Those components which perform the same function as ground-
driven components but which, for the purposes of test, diagnostics or
calibration of the machinery, can be placed in motion while the machinery
is stationary are excluded from the guarding requirements of paragraph
4.2 provided that: when in the test, diagnostic or calibration mode the
Figure 4 fastest components rotate at speeds no greater than 20 rpm, and which

ASABE STANDARDS 2008 ANSIASAE S493.1 JUL2003 R2008 3

come to a complete stop after no longer than 3 seconds after start of the the hazard/hazardous area given in Section 6. The design of the guard
motion, or the components can only be placed in motion through shall be such that it is not possible to distort the mesh or the grille during
activation of a hold-to-operate control that requires continuous activation normal operation and use in such a way that the opening size and
by an operator in order to maintain the motion. distance relationship exceeds the limits given in Section 6.
4.2.8 Hot surfaces.
4.3 Guarding, where required, shall reasonably minimize inadvertent
contact with machinery hazards during normal mounting, starting, 6 Safety distance guarding
operating, and dismounting of the equipment. Hot surfaces which can be 6.1 Where guarding is required (see Section 4Guarding
inadvertently contacted by the operator during normal operation of the requirements), the general principle of safety distance guarding is
machine shall be guarded or insulated. This includes hot surfaces which acceptable provided the applicable criteria in the remaining clauses of
are near steps, handrails, handholds, working areas and integral this section are met.
machine parts used for access to and egress from the normal operators
station and which may be inadvertently touched. 6.2 Safety distance from hazard/hazardous area. The safety distance
is based on measurements from the location which a person can occupy
4.4 Machines with access doors or guards which can be opened or to operate, maintain or inspect the hazard/hazardous area.
removed to expose machine elements which continue to rotate or move
after the power is disengaged shall have, in the immediate area, a readily 6.2.1 Safety distance for upward reach is 2 500 mm for persons standing
visible evidence of rotation, or an audible indication of rotation, or a upright.
suitable safety sign. 6.2.2 Reach-over barriers
4.5 Safety sign(s) conforming to the requirements of ASAE S441, and/or 6.2.2.1 Barriers shall be 1 000 mm in height, minimum.
operating instructions shall be provided stating that guards must be kept 6.2.2.2 The safety distance for sideward or downward reach-over
in place, and/or that the machine should not be operated with guards barriers of 1 000 mm or greater height depends on:
removed.
the distance from the ground level to the hazard
the height of the barrier
5 Guard construction the horizontal distance between the hazard and the barrier.
5.1 Guards shall be sufficiently strong. Unless it is clearly inappropriate,
they shall, without cracking, tearing or permanently deflecting, withstand Figure 3 and Table 1 shall be applied. The dimension c is a minimum.
a perpendicular static load of 1 200 N. 6.2.3 Round reach. Table 2 shows the extent of reach around guards
5.2 Parts designed as platforms and steps which are also guards shall which can be attained, taking into account the aperture and the distance
comply with appropriate strength requirements for platforms and steps. from other obstructions. Potential hazards shall be beyond these limits if
they are not independently guarded.
5.3 Where a guard is intended by the manufacturer to be used as a step
it shall withstand a load of 1 200 N. 6.2.4 Inside reach through guards. The safety distances depend on
the shape of the openings. The openings shall not exceed the size
5.4 Guards shall be rigidly fixed, have no sharp edges, be weather- appropriate to the distance of the guard from the potential hazard (see
resistant and retain their strength under extremes of temperature, taking Table 3).
into account the intended use.
6.2.4.1 Irregular openings. In the case of irregular openings, the
5.5 Guards shall be designed in such a way that normal operation and following steps shall be carried out.
service of the machine can be readily carried out. a.) Determine first
5.6 Guards shall normally be attached to the machine such that they -the diameter of the smallest round opening, and
cannot be removed without the use of a tool. They may be openable, in -the side of the smallest square opening, and
which case they should remain attached to the machine in some way, for -the width of the narrowest slot opening
example by means of a tether, hinge, slide, linkage or other suitable into which the irregular opening can be completely inserted (see
means, and should be provided with a convenient means to keep them Figure 4).
closed. b) Select the corresponding three safety distances according to Table 3.
5.7 Guards may be formed of a welded or rigid mesh or grille. The size c) The shortest safety distance of the three values selected in b) may be
of the opening permitted depends on the distance between the guard and used.

4 ANSIASAE S493.1 JUL2003 R2008 ASABE STANDARDS 2008