Health and Safety for Beginners Forums

Hello,

I'm after some advice, please.

Where I work we assemble steel lockers with pneumatic rivet guns. The stems of the rivets used are left to fall to the floor and build up significantly over the course of the morning or afternoon. They are cleared away twice a day. The assemblers are on piece work, so the more lockers they build the more they get paid. (A nightmare from a SHEQ point of view!)

As well as being a major slip/trip/fall hazard, when the rivets are swept away they can get lodged in the wooden raised platform floor in an upright position and one recently ended up in the sole of a work boot. (we all wear midsole protection for this)

I'm determined to find a PROPER solution to this as it is an issue that has never been fully addressed. The attitude as it stands is "it's the way we've always done it" and "that will slow us down" which is obviously not ideal.

The solutions I'm working on currently are:

1. Eliminate the stems leaving the gun altogether (I'm told a stem catcher bag has been trialled in the past, not sure how much time it was given) - said to get in the way and time-consuming to empty (bonus-driven culture)

2. Remove the wooden floor to ease the cleaning procedure - This is there to protect the bottom of the locker once assembled and keep feet off of the cold concrete floor.

3. We've introduced a roller magnet to collect the rivets but when they are stuck in the joins of the wood they cannot be collected.

4. Install some sort of lipped bin under the assembly table to catch the worst of the rivets - could hinder assembler and cause ergonomic issues?


I was just wondering if anyone has come across a similar process and found a solution?

Thanks

NN

Hi NN.

I do not have experience of a solution to your question, however, until others come in (thank you to them), perhaps you may have answered your own question on number 2?

We have a member, MatMan, who may be able to offer some sort of mats that will remove the problem of the stems getting stuck vertically and also protect the legs of the completed lockers.

I am sure he won't mind you PMing him.

Hi

Can't see there being a stemless rivet? Need the stem to pull the rivet into position.
There must be a step mat out there with small holes in it where the rivet stem can drop through and collect underneath and be removed at the end of the day.
(dragons den moment opportunity maybe?)

SS

Thank you for the replies so far.

I've PMed MatMan.

I was consulting with the maintenance department and potentially building some sort of grid could be the answer. It's just figuring out how to easily remove the stems?

have you had a look at a rivet gun that could collect the stems as they are ejected?

Blind rivet tool??

SS

I agree this would eliminate the problem. We have looked into those.

The plastic ends make the unit too bulky to rivet inside the lockers.

We may trial a bag option but when I've mentioned it it was said "they'd be emptying it every 10 minutes" also it's been said it would get caught in the locker and slow them down.

The piecework mentality!!

Hi there,

There are a couple of types of mat types that might help;

Ring Mat - These feature a pattern of holes which are designed to allow particles to fall through them on to the hard floor below. The mat can then be lifted allowing the debris to be swept away.



Scraper Mat - These work by scraping particles away from feet on to the mat itself.


Do either of these look like the sort of thing that may help you out?

MM