9 August 2004 - HSE Alerts Rubber Industry to Changes in Guidance
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued supplementary guidance detailing the safeguards required for threading up calenders used by firms in the rubber industry.
Calenders are used to create the desired finish or to ensure uniform thickness in material or rubber. The machine is made up of a number of horizontal rolls that can be either heated or unheated, through which material or rubber is passed under pressure, which in turn can cause injuries to occur when material is threaded into the rollers, when fingers, hands or arms can become trapped.
The supplementary advice applies to calenders installed before 1998, revising guidance first published by The Rubber Industry Advisory Committee (RUBIAC). The guidance on threading in RUBIAC's original Safeguarding of Calenders in the Rubber Industry was found to be impractical for most calenders that predate the publication and the guidance was routinely ignored.
The new advice requires all safety guards to be in position during threading; a minimum of two people in attendance during the whole threading operation; and the use of slow crawl throughout.
The amendment, a single page to the specific section covering threading can be obtained, free of charge, from HSE’s Manufacturing Sector at Marshalls Mill, Marshall Street, Leeds LS11 9YJ or e-mail from: Rubiac Area14@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Copies of “Safeguarding of calenders in the rubber industry” ISBN 0 7176 1456 5, price £6.00, are available from HSE Books
