Food and beverage factory choc-full of worker safety features
World-class Brady products protect food and beverage giant's employees
Haslop & Mason recently assisted a food and beverage giant to overhaul its Port Elizabeth manufacturing facility, using best in brand Brady products to create a safer working environment for employees.
Visual identification, asset management and electrical safety systems were just some of the solutions that helped the customer pass its safety audit with flying colours.
The process began with a site survey by Haslop & Mason, in association with Brady's product specialists, in November last year.
"When we do a site survey, we evaluate what would be the best option for the customer," says Haslop & Mason's account manager Eon van Vuuren.
"We don't want our customers to buy the biggest, most expensive equipment. We want them to be satisfied, and to give them the right spec for the job because we know every industry has budgetary constraints," Van Vuuren says.
PIPE MARKING
According to Brady's area sales manager, Tamarin Ellis, one of the first priorities was getting pipe marking up to standard.
"In industry, there are a lot of pipes and cables all over the place. Mistaking a gas or electrical pipe for a water pipe could have serious safety implications, so by law you have to have pipe marking to indicate contents and direction of flow," says Ellis.
She says the most practical solution was to match a printer to the requirement and supply the customer with a BBP37 Multicolour and Cut Sign and Label Printer, with self-cutter and a maximum print width of 101mm.
"This printer gives the customer the facility to do all their own pipe marking, cut the direction of the arrow and make it colour-coded to their standard," explains Ellis, adding that full technical training was also provided.
AREA DEMARCATION
The site survey also revealed a problem with area demarcation that is unique to the food and beverage industry.
"Floor marking can't be done with paint because it is toxic to the food products, while wafer dust from the confectionery causes cheaper tape products to peel off," says Ellis.
"We put down samples of our Toughstripe tape for testing in high-traffic areas. It passed all their tests and is now in permanent use. The best part is that they can print on it using the BBP37 printer.
"The glow-in-the-dark floor markings are also perfect for low light conditions, especially during power outages due to loadshedding."
ASSET TAGGING
For audit purposes, every asset - right down to the brooms and mops - must be registered, tagged and numbered, says Ellis.
"So we supplied the customer with smaller, handheld BMP21 printers, so that the team can walk through the factory and label items as they go."
LOCKOUT TAGOUT
During the site survey, the customer also raised the need for a lockout tagout system of electrical safety procedures.
"This is a system of locks and warning signs to protect an electrician working on a machine. It's a way of isolating power from the machine to ensure that no one can get hurt," she says.
"You can lock a circuit breaker into a safe position and prevent anyone else from unlocking it, because each electrician has his own separate lock and unique key."
PROJECT FOLLOW-UP
After supplying products and training, the team paid a follow-up visit to the customer to check that everything was satisfactory in terms of both product and service.
"We were invited to do a full walk-through and were delighted to see that they had mastered the applications and the visual identification was complete.
"From site survey to follow-up, the process took approximately four months. We are proud to have delivered tough, durable solutions that really work hard," smiles Ellis.