Ensuring machinery safety is a key issue facing modern manufacturing companies. The machines, tools and equipment, in spite of their construction and technological advance, still contribute to many hazards for their operators. With this purpose, new legal acts binding in the Member Countries of the European Union are being introduced. In this paper a concept of machinery safety with the application of Directive 2009/104/EC is presented. The safety design practices are determined on the example of metal machines. These machines are studied for the aspects of ensuring safety by technology and machinery operation, work environment, process and space, and also information, signal and control elements.