Cutting and forming machinery risk assessment (NSW)
Decoilers, guillotines, turret punches, drills, plate rolls, press brakes, roll formers, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting, saws and grinders – 82 hazards already identified and rated. Walk the machines, answer Yes, No or N/A, and download a finished Word report.
Section B – Cutting and Forming. 11 activities, 82 hazards, 361 controls.
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The 11 activities in this section
Every activity is assessed in three parts – General Safety (40 hazards), Fire and Explosion (13) and Occupational Hygiene (29). Untick any activity you do not carry out and it drops out of your assessment.
✓Access to the Section B online calculator, tied to the email address used at checkout. Untick any activity you do not carry out and it drops out of your checklist, results and report.
✓A finished Word report (.docx) with every hazard, your answers, the residual risk and your Action Plan already in it – to print, sign and keep with your safety records.
✓The pre-written Inherent Risk Assessment (.docx): every hazard in this section with what could go wrong, the possible consequence and its inherent risk rating – your reference copy, to read before the walk and share with the people you consult.
✓A printable Word walkthrough checklist for marking by hand on the workshop floor, an illustrated Quick Start Guide (PDF) and a one-page calculator login sheet.
What this pack is
Heavy plate manipulation and cutting machinery present the highest risk of catastrophic physical injury on the workshop floor. This module evaluates the specific machinery used in bolted steel tank production, providing a rigorous hierarchy of controls.
Cutting and forming is where amputations happen. Every machine in this part of the workshop has a point where a hand can be drawn in, crushed or cut, and most of them also throw noise, fume, metal dust or vibration at the operator for the whole shift.
This is the largest section of the assessment: eleven activities, from decoiling and cut-to-length through guillotining, punching, drilling, plate rolling, press brake bending, roll forming, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting, sawing and hand grinding, to manual handling of sheets and strakes. For each machine it asks about guarding, interlocks, light curtains, isolation, two-hand controls and emergency stops before it asks about procedures and PPE – because physical controls earn more credit than rules.
The activities are common to any sheet-metal or steel fabrication shop, so the section works equally well outside tank manufacturing.
Section B – Cutting and Forming
Workplace risk assessment for a bolted steel tank manufacturing workshop in New South Wales, Section B: Cutting and Forming: 11 activities, 82 hazards and 361 controls covering press brakes, guillotines and other heavy machinery, plasma cutting fume, hand-arm vibration and impact noise. Completed in the online calculator, which works out control scores, residual risk and a prioritised Action Plan and produces a finished Word report to print and sign. Includes a printable walkthrough checklist and a Quick Start Guide.
- ✓82 hazards across 11 activities, each with its consequences and inherent risk already rated
- ✓361 controls listed for you, ranked by the hierarchy of control – you answer Yes, No or N/A
- ✓Colour-coded residual risk and a prioritised Action Plan, worked out for you
- ✓A finished Word report to print and sign
- ✓The pre-written Inherent Risk Assessment in Word, a blank walkthrough checklist, an illustrated Quick Start Guide and a calculator login sheet
Section B – Cutting and Forming. 11 activities, 82 hazards, 361 controls.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Sign in and start as soon as the payment goes through.
Need more than one section? See the complete workshop
The most serious hazards in cutting and forming
A sample of the 82 hazards in this section, each shown with its consequence and the inherent risk rating given by a Certified Industrial Hygienist before any controls are counted. The controls themselves are in the calculator.
Severe lacerations, struck-by injuries, fatality. General Safety · inherent risk 4C.
Crush injury, amputation of fingers/hand, fatality. General Safety · inherent risk 4C.
Amputation, fatality. General Safety · inherent risk 4C.
Amputation of fingers/hand. General Safety · inherent risk 4C.
Workshop fire; burns; major property damage. Fire and Explosion · inherent risk 4C.
Explosion, fire, burns, fatality. Fire and Explosion · inherent risk 4B.
Stainless fume: hexavalent chromium and nickel compounds are IARC Group 1 carcinogens (lung cancer); welding/cutting fume is IARC Group 1 (IARC Monograph 118). Zinc oxide: metal fume fever. Manganese: neurological effects. Occupational Hygiene · inherent risk 3D.
Hand-arm vibration syndrome: vascular (white finger), nerve and joint damage; carpal tunnel syndrome – irreversible. Occupational Hygiene · inherent risk 3D.
Respiratory irritation, pulmonary oedema at high levels; CO headache and poisoning in poorly ventilated areas. Occupational Hygiene · inherent risk 3C.
How one hazard is rated
Hazard B1.1 – Stored energy in coil – starts with an inherent risk of 4C, rated before any controls are counted. The calculator lists 6 controls for it, from elimination and engineering down to PPE, monitoring and emergency arrangements. You answer Yes, No or N/A for each on the floor. Once the last one is answered, the calculator works out the control score, applies any severity reduction earned by physical controls, and shows the residual risk as RED, YELLOW or GREEN. Every control you answered No to goes into your Action Plan, most urgent and most effective first, ready for a responsible person and a due date.
How your controls are scored
Not generic advice — the specific, hierarchy-of-controls measures written into the pack, matched to how these assets actually fail.
Built for the people who do this work
If you operate, maintain or contract to these assets in NSW, this pack is written for your duties.
- ✓Workshops running guillotines, press brakes, plate rolls or roll formers
- ✓Sites with CNC or turret punches, magnetic and pedestal drills, cut-off saws and bandsaws
- ✓Anyone plasma or oxy-fuel cutting steel, stainless or galvanised sheet
- ✓Businesses where hand grinding and deburring is a daily task
- ✓Owners who need a plant and machinery guarding risk assessment for each machine type
Authored to the codes and the law
The Codes of Practice and Australian Standards these documents are measured against, and the legislation behind them.
- §Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)
- §Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)
- §SafeWork NSW Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks
Frequently asked questions
Add an in-house CIH risk assessment review
Complete your risk assessment using our digital engine, then have our in-house Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and Full Member of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (MAIOH) review your specific results to ensure bulletproof compliance.
Post-completion expert review
Not sure if you categorised your site’s controls correctly? Complete your online assessment and send us the generated report. Our in-house experts will review your residual risk scores, validate your “N/A” selections, and ensure your action plan adequately addresses your highest liabilities (like hexavalent chromium or LEL environments) before you sign off.
- Scope
- Remote CIH and MAIOH review of your completed calculator report and hazard register.
- Turnaround
- 3–5 business days.
- Pricing
- Remote review is billed at an hourly rate of $250 AUD/hour (total quote based on the number of sections reviewed).
Walk it, answer it, sign it.
The calculator generates a finalised, fully formatted .docx record with your Action Plan already inside it. Print it, sign it off, and you are audit-ready for this part of your workshop.
Price includes GST · Jurisdiction: New South Wales – WHS Act 2011, WHS Regulation 2025 and SafeWork NSW Codes of Practice applied
This is a generic risk assessment for a typical workshop, to support your due diligence – completing it is not compliance in itself. You must answer it for your own site, consult your workers, put the missing controls in place, and get competent advice where it says so – for example exposure monitoring by an occupational hygienist. The limits of the assessment are set out in “How it works” and at the front of every report.