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Safety Maters By Andy Latham
Case Study – Lockout Tagout in the Auto Dismantling & Recycling Industry
cross all industries, wherever there are power supplies, energy sources or potentially dangerous machinery, the need to practice safe isolation proce- dures is paramount.
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In the automotive dismantling and recycling industries, the machinery and energy sources are unforgiving. For ma- chine operators or maintenance person- nel, a momentary loss of concentration or failure to follow simple safe working practices can easily lead to a cut, a shock, an amputation or death.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provide guide- lines for organizations and workers to help them identify and mitigate these risks. It’s called The Control of Hazard- ous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1910.147.
Practicing these guidelines will make you compliant in the eyes of the law, but common sense and awareness of the haz- ards can often be a more robust method to manage these risks. Working safely may make you legal, working legal won’t always make you safe.
The first step in this journey is to car-
ry out a thorough risk assessment. Here, most of all, is it important to know your machinery.
Whether you have balers, shears, shredders or grinders, it’s imperative to understand the energy sources and me- chanical “pinch points” before you can implement an effective LOTO Program. Balers and shears, for example are like- ly to have hydraulic rams. These present additional hazards because the hydrau- lics may remain charged after isolation and thereby present the risk that parts may still move after power is isolated. The lockout program should therefore include a means to drain off the stored energy or chock the moving parts to pre- vent them moving.
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Shredding machinery can involve heavy and finely balanced rotating parts. It’s common that after switching off the motor, the machine will continue to ro- tate under inertia for an indefinite peri- od. These hazards can be accommodat- ed within the safe working procedure. And don’t forget the less obvious haz- ards, like conveyor systems. Just ask Kina Repp to tell you her story about how she lost her arm in a conveyor in a fish canning plant. (You can watch it here: http://bit.ly/2H50J1T). Whatever the industry, the hazards remain. While lockout/tagout systems are based on working procedures, other fixed systems can be added to increase safety integrity. Trapped key interlocks, electrical inter- locks and light guards (also called light curtains) are all examples of fixed system which can be fitted to your machinery on a retrofit basis.
Key interlocks can fit to the machinery guarding whereby the access guard can- not be opened without the permit key. This permit key is held captive in the iso- lating switch and can only be freed when the power is switched off. Electrical inter- locks also fit to the machinery guarding.
Opening the guard automatically kills the power to the machine.
A light curtain can be installed around the perimeter of the hazard. Any worker passing through the light beam causes the machine to be switched off. Each system has its strengths and weaknesses so choosing how you set about protecting workers needs to take these into account. Always consult with a health and safety specialist who can help you weigh up the pros and cons, that will ultimately enable you to implement the most effective system while at the same time minimizing the interaction with the operator and ensuring productivity is not affected.
If you need of Lockout/Tagout prod- ucts, we have negotiated a 10 percent discount on selected products with Total Lockout, totallockoutusa.com, that can be activated at check out with the code SW1018.
Andy Latham is Managing Director of Salvage Wire and Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee of the ARA. Andy’s desire is to highlight the professionalism in the vehicle recycling industry, increase
knowledge and understanding, and keep everyone safe, ethical and profitable.
January-February 2019 • AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING