Protect Your Workers from Conveyor Hazards: 5 Conveyor Safety Tips
June 19, 2024
Protect Your Workers from Conveyor Hazards: 5 Conveyor Safety Tips
If you use a conveyor system in your factory or warehouse, then you know how critical it is to maintain as safe a work environment as possible. At Stronghold Safety, our team of industrial safety experts sat down to produce this quick guide for keeping your operations and operators safer.
5 Simple Tips to Boost Conveyor Safety in the Workplace
You may assume that safety is always complicated to support but, in fact, you can boost safety easily by referencing this simple guide. This is meant to provide a quick reference for businesses that conduct conveyor operations, so always check standards and best practices for your specific industry, business, or process.
1. Stay current with OSHA conveyor safety standards for your industry.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides standards by which businesses must operate to maintain safety in the workplace. While there may be specific standards for your operations, general requirements include:
Operators must have the ability to stop the motor or engine at their workstation, even if their workstation is remote.
The conveyer system must produce an audible warning signal before the system becomes operational.
Once initiated, an emergency stop switch must be reset before the system becomes operational again.
All conveyor systems must meet safety requirements as prescribed in ANSI B20.1-1957, Safety Code for Conveyors, Cableways, and Related Equipment.
2. Identify all conveyor hazards in your work environment.
Work with your operators to identify any and all potential hazards that arise from regular operations. However, we always recommend that you invite safety experts in to provide risk reduction consulting from an objective perspective.
3. Install conveyor belt safety devices.
Machine safeguarding is vital for reducing the likelihood of injury, downtime, or worse. Conduct independent research to find solutions to the hazards that you identified with your conveyor operators, or you can opt for a professional machine guarding assessment.
4. Train authorized personnel in best practices for safely operating the conveyor.
This is a three-part tip as, first, we suggest that you restrict physical and operational access to only those personnel that are authorized to use the conveyor system. Secondly, we recommend that personnel pass comprehensive training before becoming authorized as an operator.
Finally, your training must ensure that all operators understand how to treat their workstations and equipment. Best practices that are simple, yet vital, include:
Restrain hair and clothing, and remove jewelry and other loose items that could be pulled into the system.
Understand, practice, and follow all lock-out or tag-out procedures.
Do not rest, sit, stand, or walk on the system.
As a bonus tip, we also suggest that you establish clear, effective lines of communication so that your operators can alert you to potential safety concerns.
5. Perform regular inspections to ensure that operations are safe, consistent, and productive.
You must regularly confirm that your conveyor system, the conveyor controls, and all safeguards are in place and functional.
Complacency is an ever-present hazard all on its own, so conduct frequent inspections, drills, and training events.
That way, you can ensure that you, your management team, and your operators are never not thinking about safety.
Stay Safer with Conveyor Guarding from Stronghold Safety
Protect your operators and safeguard your operations with proactive safety solutions from Stronghold Safety. To learn more about boosting safety around your conveyor systems, reach out to our team today.