Feature Pallets, palletisers & pallet handling Best practice for palletisers
The Health and Safety Executive statistics in March 2012 highlighted that in the previous five years there had been 44 serious accidents, including a fatality, and two dangerous occurrences involving palletisers and depalletisers, six of which resulted in prosecution. Here TÜV SÜD looks at what constitutes good practice when it comes to palletisers
Palletisers can be a danger zone in a manufacturing facilitiy so it’s wise to make sure you take due care when operating them and adopt best practice techniques
Where light curtains are in place, it should be safe to assume that opera- tors are fully protected, but TÜV SÜD all too regularly see them positioned incorrectly and therefore affording no safety benefit.
It is also essential that guards are high enough to stop people getting under or over them.
T
he safety standard that should be followed to ensure palletiser safety is BS EN 415 Part 4: Palletisers and depalletisers. A decision was taken in 2006 to completely revise the Standard, taking into account changes in machinery technology such as the increasingly widespread use of industrial robots. CEN’s aim was to publish the revised version of EN 415-4 by 2011, but it is still under review. This means that EN 415-4 has only been harmonised to the old Machinery Directive 98/37/EC, so when this was replaced by 2006/42/EC on 30 December 2009, EN 415-4 ceased to be a harmonised Standard. This of course means that technically there isn’t a standard for palletisers and depalletisers.
While this does mean that machin- ery owners cannot be prosecuted under the standard, they could still be prosecuted under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER), or machinery suppliers prosecuted under the Supply of Machinery Regulations, which relates to CE Marking requirements. TÜV SÜD’s advice is to continue using the Standard as it remains ‘best practice’, and shows due diligence on the part of the machinery owner, until its revision is complete and published. As palletisers are so large, people
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can walk into them and, if not appro- priately guarded, move between zones within the palletiser system. This means someone could be in the machinery without the knowledge of those outside.
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One option is to use a Captive Key Exchange system, this is a simple, but highly effective, method to guard against such a potentially fatal occur- rence. TÜV SÜD could explain how this works and other hazards that machinery owners incorrectly assume are safe and comply with standards and how this could be resolved. Such problems are not limited to old legacy machinery with retrofitted guarding, as this is still a common occurrence with new machinery carry- ing CE marking. In such cases, if the machinery manufacturer has installed them incorrectly, they can be prose- cuted under the Machinery Directive. TÜV SÜD would advise to immedi- ately identify any issues with a thor- ough and correct PUWER assessment that should be completed before any new machinery goes into operation. Problems can then be rectified with the manufacturer, so that they or the machinery owner no longer run the risk of a prosecution under the Machinery Directive or PUWER.
Pallet shuttle storage system maximises space D
exion, the specialists in industrial and commercial storage solutions, has launched a pallet shuttle storage system. For businesses where space is at
a real premium, pallet shuttle systems can be the first step towards a fully opti- mised and automated solution. Dexion’s new Pallet Shuttle System can be designed as either a semi or fully automated storage solution for handling goods in high-density areas that makes optimum use of space while improving efficiency. Dexion’s Pallet shuttle systems can be especially useful for cold storage, food and beverage production and distribution warehouse environments. As it works with both First-In-First-Out and Last-In-First-Out, it is suitable for businesses that depend on an efficient pallet flow system for goods with a ‘best-before date’. The system removes the need for forklifts to enter pallet channels and
therefore frees up additional space for further storage as well as avoiding dam- age to racking caused by everyday contact with vehicles. The shuttle is controlled by the forklift truck driver or in fully-automated applications via integrated machines. Pallets are placed by the driver onto a remote-controlled pallet cart (shuttle) located at the front of the rack. The shut- tle picks up the pallet and moves it through the system, placing the pallets within a predetermined gap throughout the channel. Pallets can then be col- lected by the forklift driver at the other end of the racking channel using a remote control. This unit can provide information on the channel and allows operatives to specify how many pallets should be brought to the face for col- lection. Information on the complete system is stored in the unit, making inventory and stock control processes instant and easily managed.
Dexion
T: 0870 2240 220
www.dexion.co.uk Enter 352 MAY/JUNE 2013 Materials Handling & Logistics
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