OT- Personnel detector

A friend of mine runs a waste paper recycling facility. During a recent inspection it was recommended that he install light curtains on his shredder feed conveyor because employees have to walk the bed of it at times and remove unwanted product while it is moving. My understanding is that the conveyor moves at a very slow rate and is about 75 feet long before it starts an incline. There is a panic stop cable about 20 feet before the incline. There is no good way to install a light curtain because the scrap paper would trip ot at times. Obviously the fear is that an employee will fall down, become incapacitated and be ran into the shredder. I've contemplated lanyards connected to stop switches but they may cause the person to trip or become entangled. I've thought about thermal sensors but the warehouse gets very hot in the summer and may match the persons temp. Just can't think of a good solution for him. Any ideas from the crowd here?

Dale

Another thought that we had. Have the employees wear a reflective vest and install a vision system at a point further down the line. The vision system sees the vest and shuts the conveyor down. I've even tried to find an RFID tag solution but can't find a safety rated system out there.

Dale

The company should find a way to keep personnel off the conveyor under any conditions except for shutdown repairs. If they don't already have them they should install lockout devices, guards, etc. that prohibit anyone from getting on the conveyor that is feeding the shredder. Then only allow personnel access under lockout conditions when necessary for repairs.
Here are just some ideas on how to do that.
Maybe you can install a suction pickup on a remote controlled arm to keep from having to expose anyone to the risks. Maybe even divert the defective product to a manual sort station for re-sorting so as to not expose personnel to the shredder.

You're looking for a solution to the wrong problem.

employees have to walk the bed of it .... while it is moving

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That's the real problem. Find a way to operate so that there is no need need for an employee to be on the conveyor while it is moving.

dale1627 said:

Another thought that we had. Have the employees wear a reflective vest and install a vision system at a point further down the line. The vision system sees the vest and shuts the conveyor down. I've even tried to find an RFID tag solution but can't find a safety rated system out there.

Dale

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Dale I understand what you are trying to do. What happens when the new guy or gal forgets the jacket at the house and falls?

I have heard number some time ago that most fatal accidents are from people that have less time on the job than 2 weeks.

I agree with Steve look at a different sorting method.

I once had a call for a press brake safety that would used a color detector to keep operators hands out of the opening. I left that shop when the safety person said she "didn't see a problem with it." There was a SIGN that said you had to wear green glove when operating it.

I have seen a light curtain with timer that had to be blocked for longer than 2 second to stop a machine. It was on a scrap eject on a stamping press. We had to keep them more than the OSHA distance away from the hazard. The 63" per second hand travel distance will not work for his calculation. We had to do a vertical & horizontal light curtain to kee track of the blockage. That blocakge could have been a person laying down on a conveyor or a person walking thru them. We had 6 set of 60" light cascaded end to end with 2 banner controllers. The OSHA inspector did sign off on it after we showed him that NO other option would work.

Steve Bailey said:

You're looking for a solution to the wrong problem.


That's the real problem. Find a way to operate so that there is no need need for an employee to be on the conveyor while it is moving.

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I am going to second this very strongly. There was a guy in Oregon who fell into a conveyer feeding a scrap chopper in a plywood mill. He went into the propeller chopper feet first. Chopped up both legs to the hip before his buddies were able to get there and shut down conveyer.

I do not give a rip about the Production God - for one thing he will not visit me in the hospital when I get injured on the job.

TURN IT OFF - PULL THE DISCONNECT - LOCK THE DISCONNECT

Nuts to the production god he is a false idol.

You could put a walkway adjacent conveyer such that the conveyer lip forms a guardrail ie is 36 to 42 inches (42 is better) above the walkway. Better yet keep the trash out of the conveyer - difficult if not impossible I know.

Dan Bentler

Trust me, I wholeheartedly agree with keeping the employees off of the conveyor. Their problem is that the scrap comes in dumpsters and is dumped straight onto the conveyor. They claim that the only way to rot the scrap is to do it on the conveyor. I just don't see a viable solution to the issue other than keeping them off of the conveyor. Thanks for the input.

Dale

dale1627 said:

Trust me, I wholeheartedly agree with keeping the employees off of the conveyor. Their problem is that the scrap comes in dumpsters and is dumped straight onto the conveyor. They claim that the only way to rot the scrap is to do it on the conveyor. I just don't see a viable solution to the issue other than keeping them off of the conveyor. Thanks for the input. Dale

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the other option is to have a flat conveyer again at least 42 hi then have several people there to pick out the trash. Boring boring boring believe me I know.

OSHA or your state will penalize especially if a fatality but that is chump change for each serious violation ie about 1,000. Plus some states can order immediate shutdown of equipment - I know - I red tagged equipment as a compliance officer.

The other thing is with you folks knowing you need to do something
and you wipe someone out
AND if your prosecuting attorney hears about it and knows you have documentation that proves you knew the company officers could possibly face charges - reckless indifferance to start with to maybe neglignent homicide. That does not happen very often though unfortunately.

Gonna cost a few bucks but consider the cost of running someone through a shredder. Granted workers comp will pick up the bills including burial hospital etc etc PLUS support his widow for life or until she remarries and the kids until they are 18. Sounds good but workers comp is a good insurance company and you WILL repay them over time in future premiums.

Dan Bentler

You could use a push button with a timer, every minute the button has to be pressed so the conveyor will move only the upgoing part.
A garbage truck uses same principle, you press the button until the cover is on and then it will cycle.
neverthe less have a stop wire over the upgoing part so nobody will go up the conveyor.
better is to put the comnveyor up 1 meter so the boys are never on the belt.
i know we do walk on the paper all the time.
and leave it running all the time.
ok the truck did not fit last summer

If I HAD to, I would attached the guy to a tether (+ safety harness approved for this type) and overhead swing pole along with a switch that indicated when the tether was tight. Actually, two tethers, one on each side of the conveyor. Or attached to a life line that runs along side the conveyor.

That way it would do both jobs of holding him back a distance from the end and also signaling a stop.

Dale
I have a customer in a similar business. They use large palm buttons spaced about every 3 or 4 feet. If any button is not pushed every minute a klaxon goes off and the conveyer stops with a motor brake. The operators soon learn how long 59 seconds is.
It's a nasty place to work so turnover is high and employees are marginal at best. It's a high injury business but that conveyer is relativly safe with mostly falls from wet conditions.

Weight scale. In a different industry, they worried about an employee fainting and falling onto the shredder's conveyor belt. They installed a scale, under one section. Is it perfect, no. Is it a smart idea, yes.

gas said:

Dale
I have a customer in a similar business. They use large palm buttons spaced about every 3 or 4 feet. If any button is not pushed every minute a klaxon goes off and the conveyer stops with a motor brake. The operators soon learn how long 59 seconds is.
It's a nasty place to work so turnover is high and employees are marginal at best. It's a high injury business but that conveyer is relativly safe with mostly falls from wet conditions.

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Hmmmm nasty place P poor safety and then management wonders why they cannot attract much less attract good people?

So it is considered acceptible and safe for employees to fall? I would suggest top management try it for a week - I mean the guys with three letters ie CEO VIP etc.

What is the name of this fine upstanding outfit? I need ot know so that I can avoid it - just like I do rattlesnake holes.

Dan Bentler

There are always going to be bottom feeders Dan.... like it or not.

If it's only paper products, install a spring-hindged barricade about a foot above the surface, a solid object would trip it.