AS 4024 – Safety of Machinery: What It Really Requires
If you work around machinery in Australia, whether in mining, manufacturing, agriculture, or processing, you’ve almost certainly heard of AS 4024 – Safety of Machinery.
What’s less clear is what compliance actually looks like in practice, especially when machinery is:
Custom-built or modified
Older plant still in service
Imported equipment designed to overseas standards
Operating in harsh, real-world environments rather than a textbook example
AS 4024 is a suite of Australian Standards that sets out requirements for the design, construction, guarding, and operation of machinery to reduce risk to operators and maintainers.
It covers areas including:
Hazard identification and risk assessment
Guarding and protective devices
Emergency stops and control systems
Safe access, maintenance, and isolation
Functional safety concepts
AS 4024 is closely aligned with ISO machinery safety standards, but it also reflects Australian regulatory expectations which is critical when dealing with inspectors, regulators, and auditors.
Common issues we see include:
Guards that meet dimensional rules but fail real access risk scenarios
Emergency stops added late, without considering system architecture
Machinery modified over time, with no single point of design responsibility
Confusion between designer, manufacturer, installer, and PCBU obligations
Assumptions that “OEM compliant” equals “site compliant”
In many cases, machinery is partially compliant — which is often more dangerous than being clearly non-compliant.
Compliance Is About Engineering Judgement, Not Just Checklists
AS 4024 is not a box-ticking exercise, as Inspectors and regulators expect:
Clear identification of hazards
Demonstrated risk reduction using engineering controls
Evidence that safety measures are fit for purpose, not just nominally compliant
Decisions that can be justified technically and defensibly
How Trang Helps with AS 4024 Compliance
Trang works with clients across mining, industrial, and agricultural sectors to interpret and apply AS 4024 in practical, defensible ways.
Our involvement typically includes:
Machinery Safety Assessments
Identification of hazards in existing or proposed machinery
Review of guarding, access, and control systems
Alignment with AS 4024 requirements and intent
Guarding & Safety System Design
Design or review of physical guarding solutions
Integration of emergency stops and interlocks
Consideration of maintenance, access, and operability
Independent Engineering Review & Sign-Off
Third-party review of machinery safety compliance
Support for regulator or inspector queries
Engineering documentation that stands up to scrutiny
Support for Modified or Legacy Plant
Assessment of older machinery still in service
Practical upgrade pathways where full redesign isn’t realistic
Risk-based prioritisation rather than blanket replacement
Why Independent Engineering Input Matters
Many AS 4024 issues arise when:
Safety has been retrofitted late in the project
Responsibility is split across multiple parties
Documentation doesn’t match the machine as installed
Trang’s role is often to act as the independent engineer — bridging the gap between design intent, operational reality, and regulatory expectation.
That independence is especially valuable when:
Resolving disagreements between OEMs, fabricators, and site teams
Responding to regulator findings or improvement notices
Demonstrating that risks have been reduced so far as is reasonably practicable
AS 4024 Is About More Than Compliance
Done properly, machinery safety engineering:
Reduces downtime from incidents and rework
Improves maintainability and operability
Protects operators and the business
AS 4024 provides the framework — but it still requires sound engineering judgement to apply it correctly.
Trang supports clients from early design through to in-service plant assessments.
If you’re dealing with:
Machinery guarding concerns
Safety upgrades or modifications
Regulator or inspector scrutiny
Contact us for an initial conversation and help clarify the path forward.