Grinding is one of the oldest manufacturing and processing technologies. Metals, plastics, wood, glass, ceramics as well as mineral substances and many others are worked on with abrasives. That is why their production today is such a key industry.

As a high rotating tool speed is a part of the many abrasive processes, the risk to the user from grinding and abrasive cutting must never be overlooked. Whilst accident prevention regulations can help to protect the user, everything must be done to make the abrasive products themselves safe so they can stand up to extreme mechanical and thermal stresses that they are subjected to.

However, the very many accidents resulting again and again in serious if not lethal injuries from the use of hand-operated abrasive products in both industry and the DIY field shows that this is often not the case.

The trouble is that there are no global safety requirements for abrasives. The lack of transparency on the different product grades on international markets is obviously not in the interests of either user protection or accident prevention.

That is why in 2000 responsible manufactures of abrasives from a number of European countries set up the Organisation for the Safety of Abrasives - oSa. Its members have voluntarily agreed to produce and market safe and accident-preventing quality abrasives in keeping with European safety standards. The oSa label informs the user of these products.