PowerSafe works with manufacturing facilities in the corrugated box consumer goods packaging industry and understands the challenges facing companies today in keeping production going while trying to improve worker safety.
Common Hazards
Many hazards are present throughout a machinery or production equipment, whether in straight on or hidden where blind spot reaches or crawling under actions are taking place. No matter if blades or idler rollers are driven by motors or not driven yet driven by material or an active conveyor belt, the active dangers operators are faced with require hazard mitigation can include:
- Wrap or entanglement points
- Cut points
- Crush points or shear points
- In-running nip points
- Pinch points
Common Machinery
These exposures can be found on legacy machines, such as paper and pulp manufacturing machines, may not have OEM safety infrastructure, parts are discontinued, or they are worn down. Production machines could consist of the following…
- Wet mill with separators
- Evaporators
- Wet lap machines
- Splitters
- Formers or forming machines
- Slitters
- Rollers
- Printers or printing presses
Guarding Solutions
The wide range of guarding solutions that can be created through operators, maintenance, and safety cooperation in the collaboration with machine safety experts include:
Machine Guarding Solutions
- Point of Operation Guards - Nip Guards with spaced finger rods.
- Perimeter Safety Guarding - Black wire mesh with opening sizes determined by safety distance.
- Safety Switch Integration - Evaluating non-locking RFID vs. locking solenoid types based on each machine's stop behavior.
Presence-Sensing Safety Devices
- Safety laser scanners
- Safety light curtains
- Safety mats or bump strips
- 3D safety radar sensors
Integrated Safety Controls for Legacy Machines
- Grip enabling switches (dead man switches) with emergency stop functionality
- Two-hand controls with anti-tie-down protection
- Pneumatic safety valves and controls
- Emergency stop buttons or emergency rope pulls
Machine Upgrades for Safety & Efficiency
- Location sensors and limit switches
- Adjustment knobs extended straight out or at 90-degree angles via gearboxes
- Encoders and drive upgrades for offline control
- Non-safety-rated cameras for internal monitoring of hazardous areas
Our machine guarding designs are built to custom fit your specific machine, application, and operational needs while remaining user-friendly to create a safer work environment. Any impact on production will depend on necessary machine upgrades or process changes, which should be evaluated internally. Machine guards and perimeter fencing are essential for employee protection, and should be a top priority at your facility.
