Health and safety in industrial manufacturing is highly important to protect the working conditions and overall health of operators and staff in the workplace, especially on the factory floor and other places of high risk.
With 85 years of experience, Russell Finex has the longevity and knowledge to ensure that operator health and safety is protected. With a range of innovative sieves, separators, and filters, each unit can be adapted and designed specifically to meet specific industry requirements - from food and beverage to pharmaceutical - to mitigate any risk and comply with a variety of health and safety standards.
Common risks to health and safety within industry encompass mechanical failures [for instance from machinery or the factory], lack of knowledge leading to human error, hazardous or explosive chemicals, machines with moving parts, fire and flammable materials, and occupational health risks such as working from height.
Separation specialist Russell Finex has highlighted that operator safety can be improved via the following means:
Providing product training and the right equipment
One key way to improve operator safety is by providing regular and thorough product training. A lack of knowledge can cause accidents, and so educating operators on machinery is crucial. This helps to reduce the likelihood of accidents and alert them to the potential risks caused by operating and using the machines.
Another way is making sure the right equipment is selected for the right application. For example, utilising a completely enclosed screener or sieve for pharmaceutical powders will help to reduce the risk of hazardous chemical exposure. Or when processing hot liquids, such as oil, using a self-cleaning fully enclosed filtration systems – like the Self-Cleaning Russell Eco Filter® - lowers to risk to operators.
Assess workplace risks
Assessing the safety of a workplace by carrying out a safety and risk assessment is another way to improve operator safety. This is the best practice to deploy to ensure businesses are given a picture of how to improve and safeguard their workforce against potential risks. Risk assessment practice should deal with the following questions:
• What are the potential risks of routine operations?
• Considering the potential hazards, how many employees could this affect?
• Is there data that can help manufacturers judge the likelihood of industrial accidents?
Regulations
Regulations should be adhered to when assessing health and safety in the workplace. Making certain that machines are compliant with industry standards, which will differ depending on the industry or application, is important to ensure any risk to the end-product is limited.
ATEX, DSEAR, and OEL
Machines that process hazardous chemicals or exist in a potentially explosive atmosphere need to be compliant to the appropriate standards and directives such as DSEAR and ATEX. This is a high priority in industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, where the processing of potentially explosive and hazardous powders is a common occurrence.
Potential exposure risks to harmful powders also need to be considered when assessing operator safety. This is a risk that is monitored by the occupational exposure limit [OEL], a limit which establishes the safe levels of exposure limits on a variety of different materials.
The Russell Compact Airlock Sieve™ is specifically designed with a patented TLI [Twist, Lock and Inflate] pneumatic clamping system, providing validated OEL 5 containment and reducing dust and powders potentially released into the surrounding atmosphere.
Russell Finex also provides businesses with comprehensive documentation to ensure validation processes are kept to a minimum. All equipment from Russell Finex is manufactured to the highest of standards, as well as providing certification for machines that extensively operate in hazardous environments [such as ATEX or IECEX].
Critical Control Points (CCP) and HACCP
In the food and beverage industry regulations to minimise contamination risk are of the utmost importance, to protect the quality of the product. Moreover, due to the nature of some products – such as milk powder, flour, or chocolate – there are increasingly strict Manual Handling Operation regulations to mitigate risk to the operator.
Systems like HACCP are utilised to identify and mitigate hazards and critical control points, done to protect products and operators. The Russell Compact 3in1 Sieve™ is an example of this sieving unit, designed specifically to meet HACCP requirements within the food industry when ingredients such as flour or sugar are debagged into a food processing line.
For more information on how Russell Finex can help your business comply with health and safety regulations, contact details may be found here.
