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Product category: Industrialsafetytalk: Health and Safety Consultancy and Software
News Release from: Pilz Safe Automation Australia | Subject: Safety consultancy services
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 15 September 2005

Bostik invests in safety culture change

In just 14 months, Bostik has invested between AUS$1million and AUS$1.5million on safety improvements at its Melbourne operations and has not finished its radical safety upgrade yet.

In just 14 months, Bostik, the maker of Australian icon Blu Tack, has invested between AUS$1million and AUS$1.5million on safety improvements at its Melbourne operations and has not finished its radical safety upgrade yet Nevertheless, the company is already starting to see results

While it is still very early in the programme's implementation, initial numbers show a 20 per cent reduction in injuries.

Importantly, support for the program comes right from the top.

Bostik's parent company, petrochemical giant Total Fina Elf, has embarked on an ambitious worldwide program putting safety firmly as a top priority.

The scale of the improvements to Bostik's Thomastown site in Melbourne's northern suburbs is vast.

The factory produces about 9million packs of Blu Tack each year - a small percentage of its total output, which also includes solvents, sealers and rubber for automotive applications.

Built in the 1960s, the Thomastown plant had some very old machinery dotted across its sprawling 16-acre site that, although perfectly functional, had not kept pace with modern safety standards.

There were also fire system, manual handling, asbestos and personal protective equipment issues to address.

Even more fundamentally, the culture of the site had to change, according to Bostik health and safety manager Ray Curtis.

Ray began by calling in expert help to educate Bostik managers and engineers about the standards and regulations underpinning production line safety: Australian Standard AS4024.1 for Safety of Machinery, Plant and Equipment; and the Victorian Plant Regulations.

"While I am very conversant with the standards and the regulations, I needed someone who could go the next step and provide practical solutions the engineers could implement," he says.

"I knew by reputation that AS4024.1 expert and engineer, Pilz Safe Automation's Frank Schrever, could both train the engineers and recommend solutions that they could implement - offering education as well as compliance".

Bostik automotive manufacturing engineer, Peter Rachwalski, said the process was invaluable.

"We were on a steep learning curve and it was great to have Frank sit with us in front of a piece of equipment and help us work out exactly what needed to be done and why," he says.

Ray added that the interaction between Bostik's engineers and a specialist safety engineer was particularly useful.

"Our engineers enjoyed the freedom of being able to challenge what Frank had to say at times and get answers in a very open and constructive process," he says.

Of course, cultural change had to extend well beyond the engineering department and safety training is ongoing for all job functions at Bostik.

Ray also has plans for a behaviour based safety program called 'Safe place - a partnership in safety' to provide a motivational environment offering the discipline Ray believes is necessary for change.

"At the point of making the decision whether to take a risky short cut or do it the Bostik way, we want them to choose the Bostik way," Ray explains.

"You have to make rules that are agreed, acceptable and workable, then use a combination of gentle coercion and reward and recognition to reinforce them and have a good feedback loop".

Bostik has worked hard to garner widespread support for the machine safety program.

"We kicked it off with Frank delivering a four-hour course on safety standards to all sorts of people, like fitters, operators and even managers," Ray says.

Frank then acted as a guide for risk assessment groups, comprising team leaders, engineers, occupational health and safety committee representatives and area managers, which systematically worked their way across the site.

The feedback from staff members, according to Peter, has been positive, despite some reservations about change.

"A lot of Bostik people have worked here for decades," he says, "so it is not surprising that it was difficult for some; but people do appreciate that we care for their welfare and that if it comes down to a choice, it is more important to be safe than to keep the machine running".

Although Bostik had done risk assessments in the past, environments, machinery and process changes demanded a fresh examination.

Ray says the depth of consultation was essential to effective implementation.

First, every representative offered a different perspective on the operation of each production cell and, second, involvement right from the start would encourage employee acceptance of the final safety proposal.

The 32 risk assessments on plant and manufacturing processes completed to date have revealed an almost limitless array of hazards demanding control.

Around 90 per cent of the hazards were deemed to belong to Category 4, the most demanding of all the AS4024.1 categories.

To make the upgrade manageable, Ray and Peter prioritised hazards for control implementation.

Each hazard was scored according to a matrix developed by Bostik that, based on the current AS 4360, calculated risk in terms of the probability of injuries, the severity of the consequences and the exposure of workers.

The scores provided Bostik with a baseline for the measurement of future safety performances, a list of priorities and objective justification for the allocation of resources.

"Like anybody else, we have to manage people and funding but we have the backing of senior management, including our CEO, who has made it very, very clear that safety comes first," Peter says.

"It is too costly not to get involved in safety and Bostik is very keen to ensure our people are safe".

The scores also allowed Bostik to develop a 'Risk Action Plan', which Ray has presented to WorkSafe Victoria under its 'high risk' program covering plant, manual handling and noise.

"We want to continue to develop a relationship with WorkSafe and are very proactive about sharing our plans with them," Ray says.

While Bostik assessed the risks posed by existing plant and equipment, the spotlight was also turned on suppliers and installers of new machinery.

"We drew a line in the sand," Ray says.

"Any new machinery and any changes to the plant have to go through the same rigorous hazard identification and risk assessment process before commissioning".

Bostik is keen to involve safety considerations early in the design process to minimise costs and maximise productivity.

Ray and Peter found that many suppliers either lacked detailed knowledge of plant safety requirements or interpreted them loosely.

Bostik also discovered that even machinery designed in compliance with European standards and carrying a CE mark did not necessarily meet local requirements.

While the company is happy to discuss those requirements with suppliers, Peter said Bostik favoured suppliers with a similar view of safety compliance.

"It is much easier for us to use companies like Pilz and Sage Automation that are well and truly aware of safety in the design stage," Peter says.

"That understanding is becoming part of Bostik's purchase criteria because suppliers who are not aware of safety requirements leave you exposed".

This attitude towards safety is something Ray Curtis believes is not unique to Bostik or Australia.

"Globalisation is bringing about the harmonisation of international safety standards," he says.

"Eventually, you will not be able to run a business anywhere in the world without having to bite the bullet and deal with safety professionally".

Since Bostik began its machine safety upgrade at its Thomastown, Melbourne, plant about 14 months ago, an estimated 500 safety inputs and outputs (I/O) have been installed.

Bostik automotive manufacturing engineer, Peter Rachwalski, says the company was already undertaking systematic risk assessments across the plant when it received a thunderous wake-up call.

Rubber automotive dashboard coatings are coated with foam in a large carousel comprising several 6000kg trolleys or moulds.

With one 3000kg half suspended above, an operator leans in to place rubber over the base of the mould, then steps away as the carousel rotates.

One day, a pivot pin on the hydraulics supporting the upper half failed as the carousel moved away from the operator's station, allowing the 3000kg weight to crash to a close.

"Nobody was injured but we called WorkCover immediately," Peter says.

"We devised a chock as a stop-gap control and the inspector issued a provisional improvement notice for adjacent machinery non conformance, on the spot.

"We were shocked by the incident, relieved that everyone was okay, and stunned by the magnitude of what had to be done before the PIN expired in two weeks".

A thorough risk assessment guided by Frank Schrever of Pilz Safe Automation revealed crush, shearing and entanglement hazards.

Some were scarcely avoidable and all had the most serious consequences.

The rotation of the carousel was deemed Category 3 under the provisions of Australian Standard AS4024.1 and the mould mechanism was Category 4.

The safety concept addressed both hazards.

First, all pivot pins were replaced and hydraulic cylinders were captivated mechanically to prevent the top half from falling in the event of pivot failure.

To prevent access to the carousel during operation, new mechanical guarding was erected and a Pilz safety system integrated by Sage Automation.

Fortress safety locks and Pilz PSEN non-contact switches were installed to trigger a machine shutdown whenever the gates were opened.

Pilz light curtains, which also have to be reset before production can resume, were fitted at the two operator stations.

An operator is still needed to interact with the machine, but when the carousel is about to rotate, a siren signals and any break in the light curtain will then stop movement.

To protect the operator while the trolleys are being loaded, a mechanical lagging hook latches onto a semicircular overhead structure designed, manufactured and installed by Melbourne engineering company, JC Smale.

The hook's performance is monitored by a Category 4 Pilz PNOZmulti software configurable safety controller, which stops operation and de-energises the plant in the event of a fault.

The result, Peter Rachwalski says, is a system that achieves the twin objectives of safety and productivity.

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