Jeff, Usually, FR-4 does not have edges sharp enough to cut fingers if the routing is done perpendicular to the surface. Do the boards have copper out to the edges of the cutouts (routings for singulation) or to the edge of the individual PWBs or the edge of the panel? Standard design practice is to keep copper planes and traces back some distance from the edges (usually .050") to prevent shorting to hardware, or to the cabinet or frame that the board goes into. This also prevents layer-to-layer shorting due to copper smear from cutting or milling the PWB. If copper is exposed along any side, it is like having a small exacto knife embedded in the side of the FR-4. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McGlaughlin, Jeffrey A Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 6:23 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Injury by array Oh wise and wonderful members of tech net - We have had to incidents in the past six months where assemblers have been cut while handling assembly arrays (2-up panels) for one of our products. This has elevated the issue to "Panic Mode" due to the involvement of EHS&Q (environmental health, safety and quality). As the designer of the array I have been given ownership of the issue and am task with resolving it. After 20+years of handling boards and arrays I have never been cut, so I am unsure as to what if any corrective action can be taken to prevent future injuries. The specifics on the arrays - 10.5" [267mm] x 12.0" [305mm] x 0.062" [1.6mm] thick 2 - up for 4.7"[119.3mm] x 9.2" [233.6mm] PCB Minimum rail 0.38"[9.5mm] Tab Route and Retain (mouse bite) Injuries occurred during loading of the solder printer and during slide line operations for post reflow assembly. Any suggestions on what to tell our production group? Jeffrey McGlaughlin, CID Engineering Designer Battelle 505 King Avenue Columbus Ohio 43201-2693 (614)424-7582 Phone (614)458-7582 Fax PS Don't you just love all those management buzzwords (underlined.) >;-D --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------