The most important machine design step is ensuring operator safety. During the design process, hazards are often identified that can be removed, but when a hazard cannot be removed, then various levels of safeguarding must be provided. These typically take the form of machine access guarding and point-of-operation guarding.
It’s often advisable to provide additional safety devices to ensure the guarding is in place and the machine is safe to operate, with best practice requiring the selection of safety devices that are difficult to bypass.