a) State the first safety action to be considered before carrying out any maintenance or blade changing on a circular sawing machine.

b) Each circular sawing machine is fitted with a start/stop control. Explain, with a suitable reason, where this should be located.

(a) Of all the safety considerations before any maintenance or changing of saw blades the most important and first is the isolation of the machine from the power supply. Fixed machines will be fitted with isolator switches while portable or mobile machines should be unplugged from the mains supply.

(b) All woodworking machines must be fitted with stop / start controls. Which should be located close to the operators standing position for ease of operation. The controls are organised so the (Red) stop button protrudes from the mounting so it is easy to activate. The (green) start button is usually recessed into the mounting to prevent accidental switching on. In some machine workshop extra floor mounted stop switches are provided to allow easy operation.