Metal fabrication safety hazards can be minimised by organising and designing task appropriate the workshop spaces. The first step is to look at housekeeping, management of tools and simplifying work specific task practices. Many metal manufacturing workplaces require individual work stations to allow the worker the necessary space to assemble or weld on metal.
Housekeeping refers to how clean and organised the workplace is inside and outside. You should perform regular housekeeping and clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of workers. This way there is no confusion on who should perform the task and when.
To improve metal industry workstation housekeeping:
- Ensure walkways and workstations/areas are free from trip hazards such as leads, cables, protruding items and uneven surfaces.
- Regularly remove waste materials. Packaging, offcuts, swarf and splatter should be regularly removed from workstations to prevent a build-up.
- Clean spills when they occur.
- Regularly inspect and review storage areas to ensure materials, machinery or tools are stored correctly in an organised manner.
- Ensure pathways are wide enough for materials, machinery and/or equipment to pass through the workshop.
- Organise deliveries to prevent excessive stockpiling of a product if there is not enough storage space.
Task specific practices for metal industry workstations may benefit from applying steps such as:
- Where possible, welding and grinding tasks should be done in the best working zone (between the shoulders and knees)
- Discuss jobs with customers and only grind the product where necessary.
- Ensure workers are supplied with an angle grinder that has:
- anti-kick back safety clutch
- soft start vibration-reducing handle
- braking system to rapidly stop the wheel
- noise reduction grinding disk
- balancer to support the weight of the tool
- Employers should ensure tools used by workers are maintained in good working condition;
- are suitable for the tasks undertaken
- are suitable for the work area where the task is to be performed
- do not expose the worker to new hazards (such as awkward postures or unnecessary hand/arm vibration)
- are suspended where necessary to minimise the force to hold or use the tool and any associated leads.
Welding workspaces can be designed to improve safety by efficient layouts by use of the following management practices:
- Use machinery or robotics for highly repetitive tasks.
- Elevate the welder and leads on a gantry so workers don’t trip and can easily move the welding unit.
- Use welding booths to prevent surrounding workers from being exposed to welding flash arc. If not possible to install, use curtains and screens.
- Pipe welding gases into the building to eliminate the need for workers to manually handle cylinders when they need replacing.
- Consider the type of gas used when welding and if a better alternative exists. For example, use LPG as it lasts longer than acetylene and its cylinders don’t need to be replaced as often.
- Where cylinder gases are used, ensure they are stored in a safe location and secured to prevent tip-over.
- Ensure welding work area is appropriately ventilated through natural airflow or a fixed/portable extraction system.
- Provide workers with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). This includes air supply respirators (when the fumes cannot be adequately dispersed) and helmets (to reduce arc flash exposure).
Talk to the experts in Occupational Hygiene monitoring and reports. www.occmatters.com.au