Safety Features for Your Industrial Equipment That Can Help Protect Your Employees

No matter what your facility produces or how many employees you have on staff, your employees’ safety should be of the utmost importance. You should have safety procedures and train all your employees to follow them. On top of that, there are some safety features you can add to your existing equipment to help protect your employees.

Interlock Switches

Interlock protection switches, often known as disconnect switches, avoid dangerous conditions by sensing a door or guard’s location and monitoring the mechanism appropriately, typically by shutting off the current flow to a computer when a guard is removed. When a secure state is achieved, the guard lock and door switch block entry to unsafe locations. Keyed interlock switches require an activation or deactivation key. When a mechanism is in an unstable state, the key would be stuck. For example, before releasing the key needed to open a gate to access a computer, an operator may be required to isolate control.

Safety Mats

Pressure-sensitive safety mats can be placed in front of or near potentially hazardous devices or robots. When an operator stands on the mat and stops the computer, the mat protects against damage by feeling the strain. For loading, unloading, and modification, safety mats provide unimpeded entry. They can also provide anti-slip security.

Controls Integrations

Integration of the control system is an engineering process that involves incorporating various vendors’ hardware and software into an end-user unified control system solution. In a number of modern industries, including municipal clean water, utilities, electricity, metals, forest products and manufacturing, the turnkey engineering design, procurement, and construction automation services are essential safety features. Controls integration builds high-performance control system integration that maximizes productivity while holding costs in check.

Emergency Stop Switches

When pulled or pushed by an operator, manually controlled emergency stop switches halt machine activity, allowing operators to stop a device when they see unwanted threats to persons or production. Emergency stops supplement other safety interventions that are expected to conform to safety norms in many workplaces. When pushed, push-button emergency stops located in the area of activity interrupt a phase. The lever is either pushed to reset the switch or bent. Cord pull emergency stops, or conveyors may be used to span long sections. At every point on the string, the cord may be removed to avoid movement when danger is detected. In order to unlock the switch until triggered, key-release emergency stops require a key. This offers extra protection against premature or accidental release.

Safety Relays

Protection relays from equipment such as light curtains, friction pads, emergency stops, and interlock switches are an integral part of an overall control scheme and tracking and processing signals. On the shop floor, safety relays can collect feedback from various sensors and use the information obtained to monitor an actuator for overall plant safety.

Your employees’ safety is important. These are just some of the modifications you can make to better protect your employees from workplace accidents.