Entanglement injuries rarely start with a hand. They start with something attached to a hand — a glove cuff, a sleeve, a ring, a lanyard — and the hand follows whatever was caught.

Anything loose is a handle for the machine

A rotating shaft does not need to grip skin to injure someone. It needs to catch a cuff, a hem, a strap, a tie, an unfastened overall front, a hoodie cord, or a length of hair. Once caught, the rotation winds the material in with enormous force and no way to release, and the person is drawn to the machine at a speed nobody can react to. The severity comes from the winding action rather than from the initial contact.

Gloves near rotation are a specific hazard

This is the case that gets argued about, because gloves protect hands from sharp swarf and hot components, and both of those are real. But a glove near a rotating spindle, chuck, drill or shaft is an object with a loose cuff attached to a hand, and the standard position for that reason is that gloves are not worn at rotating machinery. Where a hazard genuinely needs hand protection at the same machine, the answer is to separate the tasks in time rather than to compromise on both.

Hair, lanyards and identity badges

Long hair tied back is not the same as long hair contained, because a ponytail still hangs. Containment means under a cap or in a net. Lanyards worn round the neck are the same hazard as a tie and are worn far more widely, and a breakaway fitting is what makes one acceptable near machinery. Identity badges, phone cords and earphone leads all fall into the same category, and all of them are usually invisible in a risk assessment written about the machine rather than about the person.

Rings and watches

A ring caught on a projection or in a mechanism transfers the whole force to one finger, and the injuries are severe out of all proportion to the size of the object. The same applies to a watch strap and a bracelet. This is one of the few controls that is genuinely simple to apply and is resisted for personal reasons, which is worth handling as such rather than as a compliance point.

Fix the machine, not just the person

All of the above sits at the bottom of the hierarchy: it depends on every person getting it right every time. The measure that works regardless is enclosing the rotating part, so there is nothing exposed for anything to catch on. A workplace relying heavily on clothing rules around exposed rotating parts has a guarding problem it is managing with instructions.

For the mechanism that draws material in, see nip, shear and crush points. For a real case, see unguarded conveyor glove entanglement.

Related standards

The standards below set the design requirements, classification and test methods behind the safeguards and equipment referenced in this note.

• EN ISO 14120 — Guards: Design and Construction
• EN 388 — Protective Gloves Against Mechanical Risks
• ISO 12100 — Safety of Machinery: General Principles

Frequently asked questions