About the blog…

Machinery Safety 101 is a blog and podcast for engineers and safety practitioners involved in the design and use of industrial machinery and the protection of those that use that equipment. The podcast and blog is produced by Doug and Kimberly Nix, owners and producers at Compliance InSight Consulting Inc.

Our podcast blog started back in the fall of 2006, with the first episode published on Sept. 11, 2006 (see our iTunes feed for all our episodes, or go to our Episode Archive). It began as an experiment into social media, as a way to try to reach a broader audience looking for machinery safety information and having a hard time finding it. Our perspective comes from more than 25 years of industry experience, and more than 15 years of dedicated machinery safety work.

We welcome feedback from our listeners and our readers, so please, comment! If you have technical questions, feel free to post them or contact us and we will be happy to get in touch with you!

If you’d like to suggest ideas for new episodes, please contact us.

In the mean time, stay safe!

Thanks reading and listening!
Doug & Kimberly Nix

Who is Doug Nix?

Portrait of Doug Nix

Doug Nix, A.Sc.T.

Doug Nix, A.Sc.T. is Managing Director at Compliance InSight Consulting, Inc. in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

His background spans more than 25 years of engineering technology experience including product testing, industrial control system design and machinery safety. Doug specializes in machine guarding, risk assessment methods and process. He has been teaching risk assessment principles and processes since 1997, using a variety methods.

Since graduating from Sheridan College in 1985, Doug has worked for a number of Canadian companies in the electrical products and automation systems industries including GFC/Hammond Manufacturing, GFC Power and ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc.

Doug gained certification with OACETT in 1992 and upgraded his certification in 2005.

Doug is a trained and qualified Laser Safety Officer and conducts laser hazard assessments and laser safety training programs. His expertise includes ANSI Z136.1, CSA E60825-1, IEC 60825-1, ANSI B11.21 and other laser related application standards.

Doug is a Charter Member of the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society, and is currently involved in the Society’s activities as:

  • Acting Vice-President, Conferences (2010);
  • Chair, Risk Assessment Technical Committee (2009-2010);
  • Membership Coordinator, Region 7 (Canada) (2010);
  • Member, Industrial Controls Technical Committee (2010);
  • Member, Laser Safety Technical Committee (2010); and
  • Vice-Chair-PSES, Engineering & Human Environment Joint Chapter, Toronto Section (2009-Present).

Doug was General Chair for the 2009 IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October of 2009.

Doug is a member of the following professional organizations:

  • Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT) since 1991;
  • Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) since 2004;
  • Product Safety Engineering Society since 2004; and
  • Canadian Standards Association since 2007.

Doug is currently serving on CSA’s s364/Z1002 Technical Committee, writing the Occupational Injury and Illness Risk Assessment and Management Standard. This standard is part of CSA’s new Z1000 OHS Management series of standards and is foundational to many other documents currently in work.

For more please see Doug’s profile on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougnix

Interested in having Doug speak to your group? Contact us and tell us about your group and the event where you’d like to have Doug speak.