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and interaction with the equipment while at the same time keeping it safe?” Mr. Rodarte observed. “It is a constant battle of give and take.” PROTECTION PROVIDED. Almost all equipment includes guards to shield workers from dangerous moving parts. Mr. Hall pointed out that virtually any moveable part is guarded nowadays. But that wasn’t always true. “In the past, it may not necessarily have been [guarded] or at least not as religiously,” he added. When designing machinery, guarding against all hazardous energies is critical, according to Travis Getz, director of engineering at Reading Bakery Systems, Robesonia, PA. “Hazardous energies include mechanical, kinetic, pneumatic, electrical, potential or stored, and thermal,” he explained. “Interlocking guards that provide safety from hazardous energies are required when employees need to access these areas.” Mr. Giles outlined some of the safety features that Heat and Control includes on its equipment, including safety mid-gates on FastBack conveyors. “The slide gates and openings in the conveyor pan are covered in a soft plastic,” he said. “The slide gate retracts if it encounters an obstacle.” Mr. Rodarte said that conveyors pose a distinct challenge when it comes to safety in that they have a moving part exposed at all times, and it’s not feasible to run a tunnel the length of a conveyor to protect workers. Thus, Stewart Systems keeps pinch points to the minimum dimension, which is ¼ in., and uses guarding along the side of the conveyor as required by OSHA regulations when the conveyor is less than 7 ft high. In some cases, Mr. Rodarte said companies have also requested that the company run a cord the length of the conveyor, so if someone does get caught, they can pull that cord and have an emergency stop for the whole system. Some accidents within plants could probably be avoided if employees used common sense. However, even more prevalent, according to Mr. Hall, is that employees become overconfident in what they are doing.

▲ To ensure all safety devices are in place, a project engineer and safety officer use equipment safety drawings to doublecheck equipment prior to shipping.
HEAT AND CONTROL

“What we have found, too, is that people get bored or nonchalant in their jobs, or they get careless,” he said. “It’s not so much that they don’t have common sense, it’s just that they have done it for so long that it gets to be second nature to them.” Getting complacent is not a good excuse for an accident to occur, so plants must keep safety top of mind with their employees, and equipment manufacturers play an important role in designing and training workers to ensure that accidents are rare events. ◾

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Baking&Snack - November 2011

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