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Product category: Machine Safety Components
News Release from: Castell Safety International | Subject: KSE20
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 12 December 2002

Productivity unharmed by improved safety
standards

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The UK's largest cider manufacturer has improved safety at its Hereford site with the installation of twin-key electrical switches from Castell.

HP Bulmer, the UK's largest cider manufacturer, has improved safety at its Hereford site with the installation of twin-key electrical switches from Castell Bulmer has purchased 18 KSE20 units for the filler, palletiser and depalletiser on its PET, glass, canning and kegging lines

As well as tightening safety procedures, Castell's switches now allow operators much quicker full-body access to relevant machinery.

"Castell has allowed us to improve safety without compromising productivity", comments Rob Beavan, Senior Technician at Bulmer.

Beavan was responsible for recommending to Bulmer's safety committee the company he felt was most capable of fulfilling Bulmer's requirements.

He cites the prompt responses and detailed advice received from Castell as the main reasons why the company was selected: "It only took four or five e-mails for me to be sure that the Castell system was the right one for us".

Bulmer's previous safety system relied on standard power lock-off stops and interlocks fitted to every access point.

Once power had been isolated, any operator needing to access a machine was first required to find a colleague to watch over them while they gained entry.

Although this procedure ensured that a machine's power couldn't be restored while the operator was still present inside, the time-loss factor impacted considerably on productivity.

To combat this problem, Castell devised a system that removed the interlocks and replaced the power lock-offs with twin-key electrical switches.

Enforced procedure signs on all machines remind operators that they must take the primary key, which isolates the power supply, with them when gaining full-body access to a machine.

Should an engineer or another operator also want to gain entry, they are required to remove and retain the secondary key.

The machine can only be restarted once both of these keys have been replaced in the KSE20 unit.

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