About

A Few Words About Us

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, design safety engineering, inc. specializes in the risk assessment process and improving safety through design. Through software, training, and consulting, dse helps companies identify hazards and reduce risks to an acceptable level. dse assists companies in learning the basics through how to implement and deploy the process into the company. dse has had great success in applying the risk assessment process in a wide variety of industries and applications including industrial machinery, consumer products, manufacturing plants and facilities, component suppliers, and many others.

Our software has been applied to numerous industrial processes or systems; as well as industrial and commercial machinery and equipment. Some examples include:

• Agricultural equipment

• Automated baggage handling systems

• Automotive assembly

• Automotive component suppliers

• Baking

• Broaching machines

• Bulk materials handling

• Children’s products

• Commercial ceiling systems

• Commercial liquids manufacturing

• Consumer electronics

• Consumer products

• Exercise equipment

• Food

• Foundries

• Glass manufacturing

• Glass products manufacturing

• Government research projects for machinery safety

• Handling systems for nuclear wastes

• HVAC equipment

• Industrial furnaces / boilers

• Injection molding machinery

• Insulation manufacturing systems

• Lawn care equipment

• Longshoring

• Machine tools and machinery systems

• Medical materials

• Mining

• Optics and coatings

• Packaging machinery and equipment

• Paper

• Pharmaceutical

• Plastic films

• Plastics manufacturing

• Power generations systems and equipment

• Printing industries

• Robotic applications

• Saws

• Semiconductor equipment

• Specialty fabrics manufacturing

• Specialty metals machinery

• Steel manufacturing

• Steel manufacturing

• Steel products manufacturing

• Warehousing / automated storage automated retrieval AS/RS

• Window coverings

• Wire manufacturing machinery

Another area of great accomplishment is with industrial and commercial machinery and equipment, such as:

• Mechanical and industrial presses

• Consumer Products

• Meat slicing and packaging machinery

• Juicer machines

• Range (stove/oven)

• Food processing machines

• Laser etching machine

• Industrial grinder

• Industrial wood-working machines

• Parts washing machine for clean room environment

• Agricultural/commercial irrigating control system

• Plastics extrusion machines

• Parts packing machinery

Meet our Lead Engineers

Bruce W. Main, PE CSP, is the president of design safety engineering, inc.  Mr. Main holds mechanical engineering degrees from MIT and the University of Michigan, and an MBA also from the University of Michigan.  He is a member and/or chair of several national and international industry committees on risk assessment and safety of machinery including ANSI B11.0 and ISO 12100, and ANSI Z244.1.  He is also a technical advisor to, and the primary representative to the B11 Committee on behalf of, PMMI the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

 Mr. Main is a member of several professional engineering and safety organizations having authored numerous articles, papers, and books. 

Alan Metelsky, FSE, is the chief controls engineer for design safety engineering where he provides consulting and training on machine safety topics including risk assessment, safety controls systems, and OSHA compliance. His responsibilities include risk assessment; controls, mechanical, and safety engineering project consultations and execution. In addition, he also serves as an expert witness and consultant in products liability and in OSHA legal matters. Mr. Metelsky regularly speaks on a variety of machinery safety topics at trade events and industry forums.

Mr. Metelsky is also employed as the the chief controls engineer and manager of controls engineering at The Gleason Works – a machine tool builder established in 1865. Mr. Metelsky’s responsibilities include global machine safety and standards compliance for the corporation’s CNC machine tools / automation / metrology offerings. Mr. Metelsky is a certified Functional Safety Engineer, and has served on authoring committees for a number of national standards including ANSI Z244 Control of hazardous energy, B11.0 Safety of machinery, B11.25 Safety of Large Machines, and as committee chair for the B11.26 standard for functional safety and control systems. For the past seven years he has served as the chairman for the Standards Development Committee that oversees the entire ANSI B11 series of machine safety standards.

A Note from our President

Since 1995, design safety engineering has focused on helping companies to improve the safety of products, equipment, machinery, and facilities through design. A primary method to achieve safety through design is the risk assessment. To stay on the leading edge of design safety methodologies, dse has been actively involved in national (ANSI) and international (ISO) standards development, eventually assuming leadership roles in these activities. dse delivers the latest knowledge and methods from this involvement to the customers we serve through books, technical presentations, training and our designsafe risk assessment software.

We are actively involved in the Prevention through Design activity sponsored by the US Centers for Disease Control and dse holds membership and leadership positions in the following standards development activities:

• ANSI B11.0 Safety of Machinery - Chair

• ISO 12100 Safety of Machinery – Convener (Chair) via ISO TC 199 / Working Group 5

• ANSI/PMMI B155.1 Packaging Machinery Safety Requirements

• ANSI/RIA R15.06 Safety requirements for Industrial Robots

• ANSI B11 Machine Tool Industry – Chair of the Accredited Standards Committee

• ANSI B11 TR7 Designing for Safety and Lean Manufacturing – Chair

• ANSI B11.19 – Performance requirements for risk reduction measures

• ANSI B11.25 – Safety Requirements for Large Machines - Vice Chair

• ANSI B11.26 – Functional Safety

• ANSI/ASSE Z590.3 Prevention through Design – Vice Chair

• ANSI/ASSE Z244.1 Control of hazardous energy – Vice chair

• ISO Guide 51 – Safety aspects – Guidelines for their inclusion in standards

• ISO 13849-1 – Safety-related parts of control systems, ISO TC 199 / Working Group 8

• ISO/TC 39/SC 10/WG 2 – Grinding machines

• ISO TC 313 Packaging Machinery – US TAG – Vice Chair

• NFPA 79 – Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery

We continue to advance our knowledge, hone our expertise, and improve the tools in our toolbox through practical application of risk assessment and safety through design in the real world.

Admittedly, the risk assessment process can be painful, and dse applies what we've learned to help helps minimize the pain and the time it takes to complete risk assessment. Risk assessment is not an academic or theoretical exercise to dse. We get our hands dirty in the trenches helping clients and customers through the risk assessment process. We understand our clients are very busy and that risk assessments need to be done well and efficiently.

Through our involvement in products liability and safety litigation, we see first-hand the consequences of decisions made about risk and risk reduction, and the positive and negative impacts that the language in industry standards has on plaintiffs and defendant companies. We apply these lessons learned to our software tools, presentations and training to feed forward the results so that injuries are not repeated.

We enjoy and greatly value our long-term relationships with existing customers and clients, and we look forward to working with new companies where we can assist. We especially enjoy drinking scotch and blogging.

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to working with you.