Treotham safety system protects key workers

Rema Industries and Services (RIS) is a successful Australian family business about to celebrate its 35th year in operation.

The company manufactures a range of paper, foam and plastic food container and packaging products, which are sold nationally and internationally.

As a part of its continuous occupational health and safety improvement program, Rema has installed a light curtain and hand-held grip switch from Treotham Automation at its main plastic sheet conversion line.

The roll forming is driven by a high-torque machine, where previously Rema’s operational procedures manual required workers to manually switch the machine to the low torque setting prior to entering the area to perform roll changes.

Rema’s operations manager Steve Tibbs says the light curtain, which has just completed its trial period, will exclude the possibility of deliberate or unintentional risk-taking.

“The operator is required to hold the grip switch whilst entering the machine’s vicinity,” he said.

“As soon as the light curtain is broken, the machine switches to the low torque setting.

If the light curtain is tripped without the grip switch being engaged, it trips the emergency switch (e-stop), and shuts down the machine completely. The complex logic
was done quite easily with Samos Pro Programmable Safety system using the free Samos PLAN tool.

“Similarly, the grip switch has an integral E-stop, Mr Tibbs said.

“Research has shown that, in an emergency, people will squeeze whatever they are holding on to. Thus the operator is well-protected with an E-stop that will activate very quickly in an emergency”.

The danger area will be delineated by yellow lines painted on the floor, which should help prevent accidental tripping of the light curtain.

“The light curtain, handheld switch and Samos Pro Programmable Safety controller have
simplified our safety procedures greatly,” Mr Tibbs said.

Treotham Automation Pty Ltd
Ph: 02 9907 1778
www.treotham.com.au