Five steps to ensure conveyor safety

It’s hard to imagine a warehouse and distribution center without conveyor systems. Boxes can be quickly moved from one end of the warehouse to the other, from ceiling to floor or wall to wall, without any manual material handling effort. While conveyor systems can help reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries, they come with other, often deadly, hazards.

Worker’s hair or clothing can be drawn into equipment, belts moving over the head and tail pulleys can create an in-running nip hazard, rotating pulleys with raised edges can cause entanglement, and access to drive system belts or chains can also cause serious injury.

When these hazards are overlooked, there can be disastrous consequences. In a recent incident, an employee working alone tried to fix a conveyor belt that was slipping off its pulley by applying belt dressing between the belt and the pulley while the conveyor belt was still moving. Hours later, the worker was found deceased. The company was convicted of violating health and safety laws and fined $200,000.

Preventing incidents like this one comes down to appropriate lockout and tagout procedures, machine guarding, greater awareness, safe work procedures and effective training. Here are five steps your workplace can take to better protect workers who work around conveyor belts.

Five steps to preventing injuries on conveyors

1) Understand the legislative requirements for conveyor systems (and other machines) in your jurisdiction. Also, CSA Z460:20, Control of Hazardous Energy, Lockout & Other Methods, reviews hazardous energy control methodology.

2) Carry out a risk assessment. Look at the equipment, identify hazards and understand how people will interact with the machine (what tasks are being done on or around the equipment?) Many warehouses have a layout that causes order pickers to be near moving conveyors. Ask questions to help determine your control measures, such as:

• What type of conveyors are you using, and what are their unique hazards?
• Where are the in-running nip/pinch points? A nip/pinch point is a place where it is possible for a body part, article of clothing or an object to be caught between moving parts or between moving and stationary machine parts.
• Where else can workers be entangled, drawn in or crushed?
• Can the product fall off the sides of a floor conveyor or overhead conveyor and strike a worker?
• Are e-stops within easy reach of where operators are working (loading and unloading areas, inspection areas, etc.?)
• What steps need to be taken if the conveyor becomes jammed? Or when maintenance or cleaning occurs? Do you have a lockout/tagout system in place for conveyors?
• Do employees need to move from one side of the conveyor to another? Or across a room full of conveyors? How will they do that safely?
• Is misuse possible – removal of guards, or climbing onto or going under conveyors?

3) Control hazards using the hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment. Engineering controls include fixed guards and safeguarding devices such as light curtains or interlocks. Ensure guards are in place for all moving parts of the drive system and where hazards such as in-running nip, drawing-in, trapping and crushing are present. Don’t forget about portable, expandable conveyors moved into trailers to unload floor loaded boxes; fingers can easily get caught when expanding or collapsing equipment.

Administrative controls include warning signs, startup signals and safe work practices. Safe work practices can include:

• Pre-shift inspections and preventative maintenance
• Reporting missing or damaged guards
• De-energizing the conveyor and locking out before removing jams or debris, or performing maintenance
• Operating at correct speed and belt tension, and not overloading
• Never walking on, climbing on or ducking under the conveyors
• Never wearing loose clothing, jewelry or long hair around conveyors

4) Train supervisors, workers and maintenance staff. Make sure information is getting across. Don’t just talk to people, show them what you mean and get them to show you. Augment classroom training with visual images. When people can visually make connections, their understanding increases.

Also, think about the message you are delivering when it comes to productivity and safety. Today’s fast paced warehousing and distribution centers place a high value on productivity. Workers may think it is better to keep conveyors running when performing seemingly minor repairs, with the worker paying the ultimate price. Prioritize safety over productivity.

5) Inspect the conveyor on a daily basis. Make sure all guards and safeguards are in place. Are guards still functional? Have people made adjustments that would make the guards ineffective? Do the belts have enough tension so they won’t slip, and are they in good condition?

While it may be easy for warehouse workplaces to focus on seemingly more prominent hazards such as lift truck speed, storing pallets at high elevations, working at heights, to name a few, don’t take your conveyor systems for granted. Conveyor safety is not just for maintenance workers who must lockout equipment for repairs.