ABSTRACT
Workers come in contact, directly or indirectly, with a variety of work-related objects that may be considered sources of potential mechanical hazards-mainly injurieswhen in operation. Examples of such objects include tools, machines, equipment or instrumentation at workstations, raw materials, half-nished products, nished products, and so on. Mechanical hazards are a very important, unique group of physical hazards generated by the work process, whose consequences are instantaneous because of a combination of different aspects. Human beings have had to contend with hazards since the advent of modern industrial civilisation. The level of intensity of the negative consequences of hazards increases with the speed, mass, and other factors of the work equipment. Table 18.1 presents recent data on accidents at work in Poland (published by The Central Statistical Ofce [CSO]).
