December 8, 2006, Newsletter Issue #41: Material Handling Safety: Conveyors

Tip of the Week


Material handling safety is critical to avoid liability issues, unnecessary injury, and death in the workplace. This is especially true for material handling operations that use conveyors. According to one insurance agency, conveyor belt transfer mechanisms, passage areas beneath the conveyor, and power transmissions are among the main safety hazard areas for conveyor belts. Loose hair, jewelry, clothing, and related items all present a hazard to the operator where moving parts are involved. It's not enough to post a warning sign in situations like these. Your liability begins when the employees step onto the floor near a working conveyor. It's up to your supervisors to enforce best practices for conveyor safety. Those practices include a strict "no jewelry" rule around machinery, proper conveyor loading, and employee training for the operation and location of emergency cutoff switches. You can find a wealth of safety information in OSHA's Concepts and Techniques of Machine Guarding publication. 

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