Canadian Occupational Safety

16 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com Improperly guarded conveyors are responsible for serious injuries, deaths in manufacturing By Stefan Dubowski point," he says, especially if it has an irregular shape, like a wing pulley does. The edges could entangle clothing, tools or body parts. Notably, if a worker is holding something that's pulled into a conveyor — a stick or a tool meant to pry out debris, for example — he'll keep a grip on the item, even though doing so could spell disaster. "It's a knee-jerk reaction," Monkman says. "The person will try and pull it out rather than let go." With common conveyor speeds, accidents happen fast. Doug Rourke is the Penetanguishene, Ont.-based manager of safety at the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium, a non-profi t organization that supports manufacturer growth. In his work, he has visited breweries where the conveyors operate at such a speed that the bottles are a blur. "If something happens, you have very little time to react," he says. SPEED TRUMPS SAFETY To truly understand the risks of conveyors, consider not just the physical characteristics but also the way companies operate and how workers go about their business. Manufacturing operations may be pushing safety to the bottom of the priority list, although not explicitly. It isn't that employees don't get it; it's that employers send mixed messages: work safely; work fast. "Rarely will the boss clearly say, 'Do everything absolutely safely,'" A worker at an iron foundry in Win- kler, Man., had his hand crushed in a conveyor belt. An employee at a car plant in Wood- stock, Ont., got both arms trapped in a conveyor, causing numerous fractures. At a Value Drug Mart distribution centre in Edmonton, a worker's hair got caught in a conveyor, ripping her scalp and amputating her thumb. Such horror stories are all too common despite the many technolo- gies and techniques in place to ensure people working on and near convey- ors are safe. For example, regulations call for guarding systems that keep workers away from the spinning belts, shafts and spindles. Guard-making companies offer barriers for idlers, couplings and other moving parts. Provincial health and safety authori- ties produce bulletins, pamphlets and newsletters that describe the hazards and suggest solutions. "Our occupational health and safety regulations include guarding moving parts of any mechanical system, warning of startup, locking out when servicing and working on equipment," says Ray Anthony, director, safety operations south at the Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. Nonetheless, accidents keep happening. Safety experts say companies must reconsider their attitudes about conveyor dangers and managers have to speak up to warn employees about the hazards. The fi rst step in protecting against conveyor accidents is understand- ing just how dangerous many of the moving parts can be. Scott Monkman, operations manager at Belt Conveyor Guarding in Barrie, Ont., explains that areas where the belt meets the pulleys — the cylinders along which the belt is propelled — are particularly danger- ous. If a worker's fi nger, hair or sleeve is caught in one of those pinch points, the employee could be drawn in. All rotating parts are of concern, Monkman says. For example, consider the main pulley, which can be 3 inches to 4 inches wider than the belt. "That exposed rotating component is as much of a hazard as the pinch

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