Press brakes are especially dangerous pieces of machinery that require operator caution, regular maintenance, and protective safeguards. Used extensively in the forming of sheet metal and plate materials, press brakes are a frequent cause of amputations and crushing injuries.

Because of this danger, press brakes are currently a hot topic in the machine safeguarding arena. OSHA regulations consider press brakes to be a 1910.212 machine, stating "one or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, in-going nip points, rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks".