Let’s Talk Safety!
- Published: July 11, 2022
By Tanya Becker, Sales & Marketing Coordinator at Catbridge Machinery
There have been published incidents recently of catastrophic injuries related to slitter rewinders. While this news is devastating, we must use it as an opportunity to talk about what we can do as an industry to prevent future occurrences. Three things come top of mind when I think of the stories I have heard over the years.
- Complacency - Never let your guard down! It can be so easy to forego the details because you’ve done a task hundreds or thousands of times. In an instance, a not pressed safety switch or instinctively reaching for trim or disabling a guard “for this run” can have devastating consequences.
- Training - It’s no surprise that the converting industry has seen a significant boom during the pandemic and finding skilled/experienced labor to keep up with the demand has certainly been a challenge. This is NO EXCUSE for improper training! Companies need to be even more diligent, taking the time and money to ensure new operators are trained fully. Additionally, not all machines are alike, being trained on one slitter doesn’t necessarily qualify you to safely run any other slitter.
- Integrated Safety - Machine builders must also do their part to ensure that machinery leaving their plants has the highest degree of safety integrated into the slitter. Safety is not an area to cut corners. Older equipment needs to be evaluated regularly for necessary/available safety upgrades.
We work in a dangerous environment but we must strive to control every parameter we can when it comes to the safety of our people. Safety protocols must be in place and more importantly maintained as the highest priority.
Where else do we need to take this conversation?
Learn more about Catbridge Machinery at www.catbridge.com.
