The ability to recycle pallets, reduce waste and landfill costs, and have potential for an additional income can be a win-win for the pallet industry. With any equipment or machinery, there are hazards or risks involved. As in most newer machinery and equipment, safety guards are put into place to reduce exposure hazards to operators and other employees. Unfortunately, when humans interact with machinery, whether it be operating, feeding, maintaining, or repairing, there are risks involved.
In the past, we have discussed Job Task, Equipment, Process, & Engineering Control Change Assessments. These tools are used to assess the overall safety of your equipment and processes. In these assessments we identify the following hazardous conditions, areas, or points to consider:
• Pinch Points
• Catch Points
• Blades
• Shaft / Belts / Gears
• Flash / Ultraviolet
• Hot Surfaces
• Severe Temperatures
• Traffic
• Pedestrians / Traffic
• Elevated Height
• Bio-Hazards
• Airborne Particles
• Chemical Hazards
• Heavy Lifting
• Repetitive Motion
• Work Surfaces
• Confined Space
• Electrical
• Suspended Load
• Noise / Decibel Level
Both vertical and horizontal grinders/ shredders pose exposure hazards. In review of occupational accidents related to these shredders, the most serious results from employee entanglement with the point of operation, which involves the first four exposures listed.
You can use Hierarchy of Control as a guide in the reduction of hazards.
Hierarchy of Control
1. Elimination
2. Substitution of less hazardous materials, processes, operations or equipment
3. Engineering controls
4. Warnings
5. Administrative control
6. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Reduction of these exposures is dependent on the way in which you feed the equipment; mechanically with a loader or forklift, or manually which involves more hazardous exposures. The less human physical interaction the better. Obviously, when a shredder is in the yard and being fed by a front-end loader, you will have less exposures, than if you have a shredder positioned at the bottom of a loading dock door that is being hand fed.
Elimination
Can the process or hazards be eliminated? Certainly, the equipment cannot be eliminated, but exposures can be, utilizing the next steps.
• Substitution of less hazardous materials, processes, operations or equipment
• Substituting, and or changing the process, operations or equipment can reduce exposures. Examples: Mange processes and operations around the equipment to prevent human access to hazardous exposures. Use mechanic loading, instead of hand loading.
Engineering Controls
Create a safety zone or limited access zone. Place barriers to prevent access to the area around operating equipment, and to the in-feed, hopper or funnel. Install railing to prevent personnel from falling into shredder hoppers at lower levels. Eliminate hand-loading if possible, and load only by loader or forklift.
Warnings
Place signage at entry points to equipment warning of forklift or loader operations, and other hazardous exposures such as entanglement, airborne debris, and PPE requirements. Post signage signifying who is allowed in hazardous areas around equipment.
Administrative Controls
Create written policies and procedures that address safe operational practices. Ensure that the workplace has a written control of hazardous energy program that identifies the specific procedures for the control of hazardous energy with the pallet shredder. Designate authorized personnel that can perform control of hazardous energy, repairs, and maintenance. Restrict personnel from wearing loose clothing, and from having long hair that could become entangled in operating machinery. Provide safety and operational training to all staff at initial assignment and at least annually thereafter.
Personal Protective Equipment
Require PPE to reduce remaining hazards; safety glasses for airborne particles, hearing protection for noise exposures, hard hats for head protection, high visibility clothing to increase visibility, and gloves for handling pallets.
There is one more hazard that needs to be discussed in regard to pallet shredders, and that is housekeeping. Pallet shredders can increase fire hazards and the work surface hazards of slips, trips and falls. As we have discussed previously, combustibles such as; wood dust, chips and shavings must be controlled to prevent fires. There are countless industrial fires every day, due to combustible wood dust, chips and shavings.
Keep these areas clean. Control combustible dusts, chip and shaving accumulation on and around equipment. You should have a no smoking policy in your facility, especially for the pallet yard. Also, remove ignition sources to prevent spontaneous combustion. Good housekeeping will also reduce the hazards of slips, trips and falls.
