Health and safety at work.

Join Date
May 2010
Location
London
Posts
689
I think every now and then, there should be a discussion on here about H&S.
Machines can kill - and often do.
So this post is to remind you to be careful and observant out there.

Highlighted to me yesterday by a job I went on.
A simple plc code alteration on a conveyor system that took mattresses into a wrapping machine.
While doing it, I watched an operative climb in the machine to free a stuck mattress.
He did not turn it off and he was right across where the very hot and very big sealing bars came down.
I couldn't just watch, even though this machine was nothing to do with what I was doing, I had to say something.
The potential horror then revealed itself to me.

I told him to come out and turn the machine off. He opened the panel and flicked a breaker off?????

Then first I noticed 2 photo cells had the reflectors taped in front so the beam was never broken.
Then the E stops were all broken off.
2 Emergency pull cords were missing the pull-wire
and for a finale - the machine isolator handle was missing.
Oh, and there was no separate local isolator.
To kill the power totally, they have to get a ladder out to turn the breaker off in the distribution board.

Lets just say the bosses didn't like it when I told them it had to be turned off until it was remedied. The threat of the Health and safety executives getting a call settled it.

So keep your eyes out boys and girls. Complacency kills, maims and injures.
 
Good post.

We do see horrible things onsite.
You need to have a paper trail.
If the issues are not with our machines, we verbally give a hint when it is just way too bad.
If the issues are affecting our own safety, we inform that we cannot work until the site is safe. If they ignore this we inform them about this in an official letter.
If the issues are with the machine we have delivered, we inform the customer that he cannot operate the machine until the issues are fixed. We do this immediately with an official letter.
When the machine is commisioned, there is a take-over meeting where a common document is signed, stating that the machine is safe, that the instructions for use has been handed over, that the operators have been trained etc.

I have been involved in a serious accident with one of our machines. It was due to the negligance of the customer. We were immediately asked by the police to present the technical file. We did so, and could document everything, including that the machine was safe when it was handed over. So we were found to not be at fault for the accident.
 
Great topic RS.

Showed up to do a servo drive retrofit on an existing machine.

Just happened to pull a guard door open; expected the machine to stop.

Bad guard door switch jumpered out (1 of 10, got lucky). Slapped a lock on it and had a nice chat with their folks. This was on a system with nice dual channel safety relays, etc.

Needless to say, led to quite a discussion.

Don't trust any safety system unless you've verified the functionality.
 
Bravo, Bravo !
keep up the good work.
during my 37 years, some thing went to the wayside. Not any more.
safety should always be first, production second.
Stand your ground for safety, document anything in which you get over ruled on as a safety net for you.
never let the comment "YOU ARE TO SAFETY MINDED" bother you. it means you are doing your job when others would let potential issues slide by.
arrive to work safe,
work safely during the day,
go home to your family after work.
james
 
When I see problems regarding safety, I always send mail to responsible persons. Consequence is that by neglecting to act according to information they will go to jail if something goes wrong (and it will go wrong, sooner or later).
Last Friday I had that situation and now manager are angry at me because they need to invest over 30K Euro and they need to stop production for at least 2 weeks.
 
Lockout/Tagout:

Had a local fatality not long ago. Report hasn't been released yet, but appears something broke down in the lockout/tagout procedure and the result was electrocution.

Worth repeating:

Use a lock, always. Verify that what you're working on is actually locked out.

Don't just add your lock to a gang hasp and assume you're safe.
 
I think every now and then, there should be a discussion on here about H&S.
Machines can kill - and often do.
So this post is to remind you to be careful and observant out there.

Highlighted to me yesterday by a job I went on.
A simple plc code alteration on a conveyor system that took mattresses into a wrapping machine.
While doing it, I watched an operative climb in the machine to free a stuck mattress.
He did not turn it off and he was right across where the very hot and very big sealing bars came down.
I couldn't just watch, even though this machine was nothing to do with what I was doing, I had to say something.
The potential horror then revealed itself to me.
....

Yea.. saw the same at a lumber kill on a startup after upgrade. The operator reached into a running canter.. which takes in logs between 8ft and 20ft and shaves down the sides, cuts off the outer 2x4 and sends the thick slabside log down to the next system..

He reached into it to grab something that was stuck. Had that canter grabbed it or him.. he'd have been spit out the other side as puree....

Equipment designed to slice trees onto dimensional lumber will not give one rats *** about a squishy human. Counseled them on being better about safety on it because its a instantly lethal mistake if it goes wrong. But I doubt there is any change. This was a small one off local mill.
 
Oh yes.. this one occured at another facility of a different company i've worked for.

Guy lost an arm due to improper lockout and testing. Piece of equipment he was working on got turn on, his arm was in it and.. it took his arm from him.

Test, verify the control operates what you want to work on. Lockout all energy sources. Retest to ensure it doesn't operate anymore. Then work.
 
If the issues are not with our machines, we verbally give a hint when it is just way too bad.

Don't you think that should be on a paper trail as well ?

Not being one of your machines isn't the issue, the safety of everyone is.

I'd hate to think you could get caught-up in any ensuing if someone just mentions that you saw the unsafe machine or practice....

A simple email to the company would be enough, even better to their H&S exec.
 
Theres a food production plant in an undisclosed location that has a lot of 'custom' machinery such as a sauce mixer with hopefully an installed e-stop circuit now. Anyways the sanitation guy dropped a large metal guard in the mixer and didnt know how to turn it off. Also I almost got myself whacked by that thing. I dont trust automation with my life, even the safe stuff.
 
I walked away from a good paying job a few years ago due to these types of concerns. I left another job about a year later due to poor management as well as some safety concerns. Sometimes you can make things better, other times you have to bail. I won't just go along to get along. A quote from an outstanding engineer I used to work with:

"For me to ignore a simple safety violation is to ignore the value of your life."
 
I walked away from a good paying job a few years ago due to these types of concerns. I left another job about a year later due to poor management as well as some safety concerns. Sometimes you can make things better, other times you have to bail. I won't just go along to get along. A quote from an outstanding engineer I used to work with:

"For me to ignore a simple safety violation is to ignore the value of your life."


I did the same thing last year, I was put in a position having to refuse to work on a heater control panel with the line running. The manager was supposedly in charge of safety, but he was also in charge of production. He called over another technician and he also refused. After that incident, I decided to find another job and get out.



Mike
 
JesperMP said:
If the issues are not with our machines, we verbally give a hint when it is just way too bad.

Don't you think that should be on a paper trail as well ?

Not being one of your machines isn't the issue, the safety of everyone is.

I'd hate to think you could get caught-up in any ensuing if someone just mentions that you saw the unsafe machine or practice....

A simple email to the company would be enough, even better to their H&S exec.
You are absolutely right. It is a can of worms though. You are essentially a whistleblower, and you can get into a very bad relation with your customers.
I think it depends on how grave the issues are. If you can believe that they have done their best, but it falls short of good enough, then a verbal hint is suitable IMO.
If you think that they are knowingly and blatantly disregarding safety, then you should definitely express your concern in writing.

edit: What Nova5 described in post #7, I would have done something. I would start by informing the local managament.
If they follow my warning, I would send a letter "As discussed, it was agreed that the safety at ... must be improved" or something like that.
If they ignored my warning, I would send a letter "I have to point your attention to a serious safety issue at ... " or something like that.

edit again: Just to be clear, I would in writing merely point out that a safety issue exists, possibly by describing the situation that was observed. But I would not in any way describe how the safety issue should be solved. If you do that, and it turns out your suggestions were not enough, then you could be liable.
 
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