Safety and Productivity Go Hand in Hand

How the cost of industrial injuries has led to the development of a new generation of maintenance and condition monitoring technology, enabling safety levels to be increased considerably and reducing costs in the process, explains Phil Burge, Marketing Manager at SKF.

Every year, industrial injuries cost the UK economy millions of Euros, with the total in 2006 exceeding the one billion mark in disability payments and death benefits alone according to the Government. In reality, the cost is much higher, with indirect expenses typically overlooked, such as lost production time, rescheduling, repairs, the loss of trained staff and the cost to train new employees, negative publicity, fines and administration.

With the need to improve safety levels clearer than ever, a new generation of maintenance and condition monitoring technology has been developed to enable manual processes to be replaced with safer automated alternatives. By minimising the need for engineers to come into close contact with rotating machinery, both through enabling remote monitoring and extending maintenance intervals, the risk of injury can be reduced significantly.

Among these products is a variety of effective and simple to operate devices, from laser thermometers to spanner wrenches, which can help maintenance engineers to carry out their job safely. These tools are now readily available and can offer a fast return on investment with increased productivity as well as improved safety.

For example, SKF has developed systems to mount and dismount bearings quickly, easily and safely. These devices make use of simple hydraulics technology to eliminate the need for potentially dangerous tools such as hammers, bars and torches. As approximately 16% of all premature bearing failures are the result of poor fitting or of incorrect mounting techniques being used, using the latest specially designed tools for mounting and dismounting components enables the life of components to be extended in addition to bringing about improvements to safety levels.

The latest solutions for mounting bearings on tapered seatings use a hydraulic oil injection method and a specially designed hydraulic nut to simplify installation. Oil is injected between the tapered seating and the bearing, creating a thin film that reduces the friction between them, significantly reducing the mounting force required. With the thin film of oil minimising metallic contact, the risk of component damage is also reduced. A similar process can be used to dismount bearings safely and efficiently.

The potentially hazardous process of manually monitoring and checking the condition of equipment can also be minimised with the new technology. Laser-based alignment systems, such as the TMEA series from SKF, can provide a safer and more accurate solution, featuring a three step process for correcting alignment: measuring, aligning and documenting. The first step is to measure the machinery's actual alignment status to determine the degree of misalignment, if any, and the machine is then aligned horizontally and vertically. The entire process is documented for simple analysis.

In addition to improving safety levels, replacing rudimentary methods of checking alignment with this latest technology can also ensure the positional accuracy of machinery, optimising the productivity of equipment and increasing the life of bearings, seals and couplings, therefore reducing maintenance requirements, and increasing the uptime and productivity of machinery.

The latest range of automated solutions also includes methods of monitoring factors such as vibration and temperature on an entire machine. This enables productivity levels to be optimised and maintenance intervals extended, once again reducing the need for employees to come into close contact with potentially hazardous rotating shafts.

For example, SKF's Copperhead fault detection system is able to detect faults such as loose parts, gear damage, bearing damage or a lack of adequate lubrication in a variety of machinery. The system incorporates specially designed sensors that are rugged enough to be permanently mounted on equipment, even in hostile environments, and can be remotely monitored by handheld dataloggers for safe and fast analysis.

It is worth noting that while the use of these automated condition monitoring solutions can significantly reduce the risk of injury by minimising the need for manual intervention and extending maintenance intervals, considerable improvements can also be made by ensuring that the components, such as bearings, used in machinery are able to offer consistently high performance levels and long, low maintenance operating life.

The latest bearings are able to offering smoother motion and higher bearing load tolerances for improved machine performance, and can also run cooler than conventional models, enabling them to perform for extended periods without manual intervention. Likewise, seals are now available that are able to withstand aggressive conditions, protecting components such as bearings from contamination and minimising the need for maintenance.

With the costs, both direct and indirect, of industrial industries now acknowledged, the economic benefit of investing in safety is clear; studies have estimated a return on investment as high as a ratio of three to one. This is made possible by the ability of the latest technology to increase safety levels for employees, while also improving the performance of equipment, resulting in greater uptime, productivity and, ultimately, profitability.

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