When it comes to safety in the warehouse, factory and manufacturing plant, automation wins.
This doesn’t come without criticism though, and as we progress into a more automated future, job losses in certain sectors and industries are inevitable.
With that being said, even where employment has remained steady, the introduction of automated processes, has had a significant impact upon worker safety, injury and death.
The truth is that people throughout the world, have been relieved of having back injury, due to the heavy lifting that conveyors and forklifts now do. Some people wont have to live a life with repetitive strain injury, because of automation, and people have been spared the horror of limb injury because a robot now does that dangerous task.
Automation, and conveyor systems are used in spaces and environment, where chemicals, temperature and other hazards make it far too dangerous for humans to work. The metals industry, or even the food production industry use enormous weights of product, and temperature extremes whereby the opportunity for injury are far and deep reaching. Conveyors and lifting equipment now take the load, they are programmable, fully automated and exposed to environments that would be hazardous to humans.
Conveyors cut down the opportunity for materials handling vehicles, to be moving around a work environment. Because conveyors take loads from A to B, they minimise the need for lifting vehicles to be in a working, sometimes busy environment, which in turn has the opportunity to reduce injury.
Conveyors can take products from one level to another, and they also can operate at working heights which can be hazardous for humans to operate at.
The opportunity for handover, from one person to a next is also minimised through the use of conveyors, after all the conveyor takes the load, and keeps the load, which dilutes the need for humans to pass the product between each other.
Automation and conveyor systems have themselves got far safer over the years. The early iterations of conveyors solved problems, but arguably introduced new ones into the workplace by having exposed mechanical and electrical circuitry, which in themselves could harm humans. The law and standards have thankfully become much stricter and tighter now. Enforcement is also more visible, pulling it to the forefront of every manufacturers consciousness.
Here at Central Conveyors Ltd we pride ourselves on being able to introduce a variety of safety enhancements to our conveyor products ensuring that risk of harm, to both product and humans is minimised. If you want a friendly conversation regarding how we can make your conveyor system as safe as possible, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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