Reducing Industrial Hazards By Use Of Proper Lifting Equipments By Christine Macguire At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

One of the most important concerns for industries both heavy and small scale has been health and safety of the employees at the workplace. At times it turns out to be the duty of the employers' to make the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health. They have think about hazards that may arise from work equipment, and make considerations when selection and purchasing new equipment, how to prevent injuries and carrying out associated assessments, and finally routine monitoring and maintenance. Work equipment includes machinery; tools or equipment used by an employee at work e.g. hammers, knives, machinery, lifting equipment, computers, photocopiers, ladders, fork-lift trucks and even your kettle!

Hazards from work equipment can occur due to various reasons:

• Entrapment – where parts of the body could be caught in parts of equipment.
• Impact – where the body could be crushed by moving parts or by items being processed.
• Contact – where the body could touch sharp edges, hot surfaces or abrasive surfaces.
• Entanglement – where hair, clothing or jewelry could get caught in parts of a machine.
• Ejection – where parts of equipment or materials being worked on could fly off and hit the body.

Overhead lifting presents a very real danger of severe injury or loss of life if lifting equipment is not used properly. Lifting equipment should only be used by properly trained and qualified persons who understand lifting equipment selection, inspection and use. The safest and most suitable work equipment should be selected for the work to be done.

Good design and construction can ensure the safety of lifting machines by:

- Providing suitable operating controls which are easy to see and use and which prevent the equipment being turned on accidentally.
- Having a suitable emergency stop control.
- Failing to safe when something goes wrong.
- Minimizing risks during maintenance and cleaning as well as normal operation.

During the selection and purchase stage one should make sure that you obtain technical information and compare this to other lifting equipment; check that the lifting equipment has a CE mark (i.e. complies with European standards for design and manufacture); that you satisfy yourself you have obtained all the relevant safety information and that you ensure that there will be adequate training provided in the use of the work equipment.

A risk assessment must be carried out before any lifting equipment is installed or used. The installation must be carried out by a competent and suitably trained person to ensure the stability and safe operation of the lifting equipment. Environmental factors such as lighting and ventilation need to be considered. There must be enough space to prevent the user of the work equipment being bumped or distracted.

One of the most important categories of material handling equipments is the lifting equipment. People have come to understand the importance of health and safety at workplace and the role played by advanced lifting equipments in the industry. Hazards have been a commonplace in the industry workplace, but now employers are more concerned about the safety and health pf their employees. Proper use of lifting equipments can significantly reduce these unwanted hazards.

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