Planer Thicknesser Machines — Health & Safety Training

Colleagues must be aware that the planer / thicknesser should not be used by pupils in compulsory education.

Colleagues must be able to demonstrate, through practical activities, their capability in using a planer/thicknesser and their knowledge and understanding of:

What the course covers

• The types of planer and thicknesser commonly used in school workshops with reference to start/stop controls, safety devices, guards and dust collection/extraction
• The HSE L114 Safe Use of Woodworking Machinery, Approved Code of Practice and Guidance 1998 based on PUWER 1998 and its relevance to school workshops
• The procedures for electrically isolating the machine in order to carry out such procedures as changing the blades and routine maintenance procedures when changing blades, ensuring they are fitted as a balanced set and that they are cutting at the same height
• The correct repositioning of both the feed and the receiving tables
• The correct adjustment of fences and guards
• The setting of the correct feed speeds to maintain safe cutting operation
• The correct procedures for feeding wood into the planer and the thicknesser including how to ascertain the minimum lengths of materials to be planed
• Routine maintenance and safety checks
• The importance of keeping the area around the planer and thicknesser free from clutter