When it comes to material handling jobs in industrial facilities, conveyors are a clear choice. However, the use of conveyors poses a serious safety hazard at the workplace, and the most severe accidents, injuries, and fatalities involving these machines arise from the lack of or insufficient guarding. Proper conveyor guarding is key to ensuring that industrial workers operating conveyors are protected from potential harm.
But, as the following points will reveal, the benefits of conveyor guarding go beyond preventing workplace injuries and fatalities.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics can be simply defined as the study of people's productivity at their workplace. Industrial staff working in facilities that have conveyors will certainly appreciate the presence of guarding systems to protect them from machine-induced injuries. The employees will feel that their employer clearly cares about their safety, and will thus be motivated to work more efficiently. With morale riding high, employees can increase output levels quite significantly.
Reduces workers' compensation claims
By helping to reduce the number of accidents and personal injuries that occur at the workplace, conveyor guarding systems, in turn, help reduce the need to compensate injured workers for lost wages, medical bills incurred, or the pain and suffering they've gone through. The money that would be used for compensation can be put into more productive use, e.g. providing workers with newer, safer, and more efficient machine models to work with.
Prolongs the lifespan of the machine
Conveyor guarding is necessary not only to protect workers but also the machine itself. When conveyors cause harm to people, they may also suffer some damage in the process. When any part of a person's body gets trapped in a nip point (any point where two moving components converge), it represents a blockage that can cause the machine to act up. Installing a guarding system can also help lengthen the life of the machine by reducing potential accidents and the need for repairs.
Reduces downtime
Labour is a crucial input in production. When conveyors cause injuries to workers, the workers will have to spend time off work to seek treatment and recuperate. This leads to loss of crucial labour time, which is required to keep production schedules on course. Loss of employee labour time means the production facility may lose lots of money.
If you use conveyors in your industrial facility, ensuring the safety of your workers should be your number-one priority. Conveyor guarding systems can do a good job at keeping your workers out of harm's way, but as clearly elucidated above, there's so much more that they offer.
Share5 April 2017
Hello, my name is Richard and I own a medium-sized industrial unit in Sydney, Australia. I only started the business a few months ago, so I am not a professional in any sense of the word. Before I could set the business going, I had to kit out the new factory with equipment. I didn't have a clue where to source the best equipment or how to get the best deal. Thankfully, my brother-in-law is worked in manufacturing for many years. He came along with me when we viewed the equipment and got me the very best stuff. I decided to start this blog to help others who are just starting out.