Automate with Air

Dan Henman | Vice President, Ross Controls

Safety Is
Money In The
Bank Lockout and tagout standards do more than keep
workers safe. They also can help manufacturers
increase productivity and profits.

M
any people view safety standards as to the operator to indicate that the line is relieved of pressure.
a pain in the neck and that conform- SLPO reduces the chance that an operator might miss or
ing to them is a cost without a benefit. skip locking out an energy source when rushing to lock out a
The reality, however, is that lockout and machine and begin work such as setup, adjustment, or repair.
tagout safety standards increase productivity while promoting So, it provides better assurance that lockouts will be prop-
safety. And in any operation, enhanced safety, more uptime, erly used, in turn increasing operator and equipment protec-
and higher production quickly adds to the bottom line. tion. In addition, SPLO reduces the time required to put the
Single-point lockout (SPLO) is a case in point, as machine into a safe mode, as well as the time required
it is a way to reduce the number of lockout loca- to bring the machine back into service once the
tions on machinery. Following applicable stan- issue is resolved.
dards and incorporating SPLO creates real
savings and benefits. Safety In Action
American National Standards Insti- When workers must clear a jam to
tute/American Society of Safety Engi- gain access to a machines hazard-
neers (ANSI/ASSE) Z2244.1-2003 ous area, all energy sources must be
(R2008), Control of Hazardous locked out. This requires time to stop
Energy Lockout/tagout Alternative the machine and apply lockout to a
Methods, reduces the time required number of devices that might not be
for safety procedures while increasing located together.
the degree of safety. Getting the machine up and run-
ANSI/Packaging Machinery Institute ning again first requires operators or
(PMMI) B155.1-2011, Safety Requirements maintenance technicians to verify that all
for Packaging Machinery and Packaging-Relat- sources of energy have been turned off or
ed Converting Machinery covers removed through lockouts. Then they
safety shutoff and exhaust valves. It 1. Ross DM Series double valves exhaust down- must clear the jam, remove the lock-
requires such valves to be: stream air to help meet the stop-time requirements outs and, finally, restart the machine.
in machine-guarding applications and reduce circuit This is a time-consuming and
Lockable in the OFF (closed) posi- pressure in lockout situations. labor-intensive process, and it can cre-
tion only. ate opportunities for workers to miss
E asy to operate (for example, a simple pull/push action an energy-source lockout. Workers also could bypass the ener-
for pneumatics). gy-source lockout if they think the procedure takes too long
E quipped with an exhaust port sized to vent pressure or if they erroneously believe that simply removing electrical
in an acceptable period of time as determined by the power is enough to put the machine into a safe mode.
risk assessment. To overcome these issues, one consumer-products com-
Equipped with a pressure indicator (such as a gauge) visible pany put lockout/tagout standards to work with a double valve

22 March 2014 Hydraulics & pneumatics

Automate with Air

from Ross Controls to reduce 4 min on a machine that aver-

lockout time and save money ages eight jams per shift. The
(Fig. 1). The safety valves pro- result was 32 min more uptime
vide a self-contained moni- per shift, or 1 hr and 36min/
toring system with flexibility day. That adds up to a full 8-hr
for applications in which only shift of additional production
pneumatic hazards exist. The time over five days.
company also can easily inte- Manufacturers often use
grate the same pneumatic electrical safety systems to
safety hardware in more com- stop equipment by installing
plicated safety applications. interlocks on doors or sim-
The Ross DM Series valves ply hitting the E-stop button.
were used in both remote Using a single lockout point
lockout systems as well as that is required to gain access
alternate hazardous-energy helps ensure that all energy
control circuits, and they have sources are accounted for and
proven to be reliable and cost 2. A lockout-tagout hasp lets technicians isolate several power the machine is in a safe state.
effective in many of the man- sources before working on a machine. Placing this lockout at a
ufacturers commercial appli- convenient and typical entry
cations, according to the companys senior safety engineer. point on a large piece of machinery quickly allows for safe
It also lets the company build a complete pneumatic safety operator access. This eliminates the time that otherwise would
system into its production equipment. be needed to work ones way in and around a machine to find
In practice, the company reduced lockout time by more than and disable multiple lockouts (Fig. 2). SPLO offers

24 March 2014 Hydraulics & pneumatics

U
sing a single
lockout point
that is required to gain
access helps ensure
that all energy sources
are accounted for and
the machine is in a safe
state.
safety and productivity in a sin-
g l e p a ck a ge, an d m anu f a c tu re rs
can calculate the return on investment
based on the lockout time savings.
In some situations, a false perception
can exist that air has been quickly and
completely dissipated. This can occur
when a shutoff and exhaust valve is closed.
The operator may be unaware that the
valve has a small bleed vent for an exhaust
port. This is the case for most ball valves
Go To hydraulicspneumatics.com
used in common packaging applications.
Requiring a full exhaust port helps
avoid the situation. For example, when
exhausting one cubic foot of 100-psig
compressed air, a fully ported 1-in. valve
will dump the air in 1.2sec. In contrast,
a 1-in. ball valve with a vented exhaust
takes 4 min to complete the task.
An operator might not realize it takes
so long to exhaust the system and could
unknowingly access the machine before
the air is fully exhausted. Using a valve
with a full-size exhaust port reduces the
risk that the operator will begin servic-
ing the machine before air pressure has
fully dissipated.
dan henman is vice president of Ross
Controls (www.rosscontrols.com), an in-
ternational manufacturer of pneumatic
valves, controls systems, and safety prod-
ucts for the fluid-power industry based in
Troy, Mich.
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