The Telure Standard for a CTE shop

Machine guard and point of operation check: machine by machine

Machine by machine, with the machine stopped and the guard in your hand: the point of operation guarded so a hand cannot reach the cutter during the cycle, blade and cutterhead guards fitted and returning to the covering position on their own, spreaders and anti-kickback devices in place on the ripping saws, belt, pulley, chain and shaft guards closed on every drive, and the machine sitting where it belongs on its anchors with nothing walking. Weekly because a guard is removed for a setup, a dado, a blade change or a long rip and the class after that one is the class that finds out. This is the interval a project cycle runs on, not the year. Record the finding against that registered machine, and where the guard's adjustment comes out of the manufacturer's manual, set it to what the manual says and not to what looks right. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Eye and face protection: station stock, lens condition and the eyewash

Station by station: safety glasses and goggles stocked in the trays and issued at the door, side protection on everything handed out, face shields at the grinders and the lathes, welding helmets and hand shields at the bays with their filter lenses unpitted and their cover lenses clear, and anything cracked, crazed, pitted or missing a side shield pulled out of circulation rather than put back. Then the eyewash and drench facility on the same pass: reachable without going through a door, unobstructed, flushed, and the flush dated. Weekly because this is consumable stock in a room where a hundred pairs of hands pass through it, and a tray empties and a lens gets scratched on a class-by-class basis rather than on a calendar. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Portable power tool and hand tool condition walk

Out of the crib and along the benches: cords and plugs uncut and ungrounded nowhere, strain reliefs intact, guards on the portable circular saws with the lower guard snapping back on its own, guards on the angle grinders and sanders, switches returning to off when released and no switch taped or wedged on, chisels and punches without mushroomed heads, files with handles, and nothing running with a cracked housing or a missing knockout. Pull anything doubtful into the crib rather than back onto the rack. Weekly because these are the tools that get handled by every pair of hands in the building and put away by whoever is nearest to the rack, so their condition changes on a class schedule rather than a maintenance schedule. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Dust and swarf housekeeping walk: floors, ledges, beams and machine tops

Walk each shop with a light and look up as well as down: floors and under the benches, the tops of machines and cabinets, ledges, conduit runs, beams, light fixtures and the tops of the ductwork itself. What you are answering is how much has built up since last week and where, so record it area by area rather than as one verdict on the room. Weekly, on the last working day, because accumulation is continuous, it looks like nothing right up until it is a lot of something, and the last day of the week puts the answer on the record immediately before two days when nobody is in the building. Note how it was cleaned as well as that it was: sweeping and compressed air move fine dust into the air and onto the next ledge up. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Emergency stop, disconnect and panel access check

Machine by machine and then room by room. Run each machine and stop it on its own emergency stop, not on its normal control, and confirm it comes to rest and stays stopped rather than restarting when the stop is released. Then the isolation side with the power off: every machine's disconnect present, labeled to the machine it serves, reachable without moving anything, and able to accept a lock. Then the master shutoff in each shop, hit and reset with somebody watching what it actually drops. Then panel and disconnect clearance, because a shop stores material against a wall and a wall is where the panels are: nothing stacked, leaned or parked in front of a panel, a disconnect or the master shutoff. Monthly because proving a stop stops means running the machine and stopping it under power, which is a deliberate act taken out of instructional time rather than something done in passing. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Abrasive wheel setup and condition check: every grinder and cutoff saw

Wheel by wheel, with the machine off and the guard opened: the wheel itself uncracked, unglazed, running true and not worn down past the figure in the manufacturer's manual; the work rest set close and square with no gap opened up between it and the wheel face; the adjustable tongue brought back down close to the periphery; the guard covering the spindle end, nut and flange and positioned where the manual puts it; and the flanges and blotters correct for that wheel. Sound each spare wheel before it is mounted rather than after. Monthly because the gap at the work rest and the tongue opens continuously as the wheel wears down, nobody notices it opening, and a month is short enough to catch the drift before the gap is wide enough to pull work into it. The wheel's maximum speed and mounting come from the manufacturer's manual and govern anything here. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Welding bay exhaust, screen and hot work check

Bay by bay with a bay running: each extraction arm positionable and holding position at the arc, capture actually pulling at the hood rather than the fan merely turning, ducts and flex hose unsplit and unblocked, filters within their loading, and general ventilation moving air through the room. Then the bay itself: screens and curtains hung and unshredded, the floor and walls around the bay free of combustibles and openings, hoses and leads uncut and untaped, extinguishers at the bays and the fire watch arrangement written down and known. Monthly because the arms get pushed around every single day but the system's actual capture degrades slowly with filter loading and duct build-up, and slow degradation is exactly what a period walk cannot see. Where the work is on galvanized, plated, coated or unknown metal, the material governs what extraction and protection it needs. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Compressed gas cylinder and flammable liquid storage inspection

Cylinder by cylinder and can by can. Cylinders upright, secured against falling, valve protection caps on everything not connected for use, oxygen kept away from fuel gas and from oil and grease by distance or by a noncombustible barrier, empties marked and stored apart, and hoses, regulators and flashback protection sound with nothing showing burns, cuts or worn patches. Then flammable liquids: in flammable storage cabinets and safety cans with lids closing, containers labeled, quantities in the shop kept to what the period needs, and the oily and finish soaked rag can closed and emptied on a schedule. Monthly because storage state drifts rather than fails: a cap left off after a bottle change, a chain left unhooked, a can lid propped open, each of them harmless on the day and cumulative over a term. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Dust collection system inspection: bin, filters, ducts and blast gates

At the collector and then along the run: bin or bag level well below full and emptied on a schedule somebody owns, filters intact and not blinded with the pressure differential read and recorded against last month's, fan and motor running clean with no rubbing or imbalance, housing and seams tight with no leakage dusting the floor beneath them, ducts and flex hose unsplit and unsagging, blast gates moving fully and closing where they should, and grounding and bonding continuous along the run. Then the machines at the far end: each hood and pickup still at the cut where it belongs. Monthly because everything here changes with hours of run time rather than with the calendar, and one blinded filter or one full bin drops capture at every machine on the trunk at once, which shows up as dust in the room long before anybody looks at the collector. Filter and bin intervals come from the manufacturer's manual. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Vehicle lift, jack and stand inspection

Bay by bay with the bay empty and the lift cycled through its full travel: arms, adapters and pads undamaged and correct for the vehicles the program actually puts on them; arm restraints engaging; every load holding device dropping into its lock audibly and holding; cables, chains, sheaves, nuts and equalizers sound with no fraying, no slack and no leaks; columns, anchors and floor around them uncracked; and the controls, guards and warning decals in place and legible. Then the floor jacks, transmission jacks and jack stands out of the corner: rated capacity legible, no bent legs, no seized ratchets, no leaking rams, and stands in matched sets rather than mixed pairs. Quarterly because the pre-use check belongs to the class that is about to go under the car and lives in the period walk, while a deliberate look at locks, cables and stands needs the bay empty and the lift free, which is a shop-down job. The manufacturer's manual governs the lift's maintenance intervals, and the yearly inspection by a qualified inspector is its own task. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Finishing bench, spray area and rag storage inspection

Wherever finish gets applied, whether that is a booth, a bench or a downdraft table: ventilation running and moving air away from the person doing the work, filters changed and dated rather than loaded and gray, residue and overspray cleaned off surfaces and fixtures rather than allowed to build, nothing electrical or spark producing inside the area that should not be, extinguishers at hand, and the finishes themselves stored where the flammable storage check covers them. Then the rag can, which is the part of this that starts fires: metal, self closing, actually closed, and emptied to a schedule rather than when it overflows. Quarterly because a finishing area's condition tracks the project calendar rather than the week, and it goes from spotless to loaded during the two or three weeks a year when every project is being finished at once. Schedule the pass into those weeks, not away from them. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Energy control procedure review: every machine, every person

Once a year, take the written procedure for isolating a machine and walk it against the machines and the people. Machine by machine: the procedure names this machine and its actual energy sources, including stored energy in springs, hydraulics, air and capacitors; its disconnect accepts a lock; and the devices the procedure calls for are on the lockout station and not in somebody's toolbox. Then person by person with each person who isolates machines: have them walk their own steps back to you, and record who was reviewed and what came out of it. Have the review done by somebody who does not use the procedure being reviewed, so it is an inspection and not a self report. Yearly because a written procedure drifts away from the machines it describes as disconnects are replaced, machines are moved and the people who isolate them change, and a year is the longest gap that still catches that drift before it is the reason somebody worked on a live machine. Where your own jurisdiction, your district policy or your insurer sets a different frequency or a different reviewer, that governs. Record deviations found as corrective items with owners rather than as notes. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Annual shop equipment inspection (qualified person)

Book a qualified person once a year for the equipment nobody on staff can honestly assess: the vehicle lifts, the dust collection system and its ductwork, the welding bay extraction, the compressor and receiver, and the fixed machinery against the manufacturer's own installation and operating instructions for each model rather than against a generic form. Where the equipment has its own inspector qualification, use somebody who holds it. File each report against this task, record who performed it and the qualification they hold, and open a corrective-action item for every cited deficiency naming who owns it and when it is due in the item note, so the closure of each one is on the record. Where your own jurisdiction, your district or your insurer sets the frequency or the inspector's qualification, that governs. Telure records the inspection; it does not issue, verify or endorse anybody's qualification. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.