Textiles: Cecil B. Lee, Standard Textile, Cincinnati, Ohio
Since leaving the daily routine of actively running a production commercial laundry, I have considered two additional pieces of equipment that I would add to a plant that would enhance the safety or ergonomics of the laundry.
The first piece of equipment is the automatic sheet sorter or separator (also known as pickers). Automatic sorters separate and sort sheets so they are detangled from each other. They allow the operator to retrieve sheeting from a cart or table in a manner that allows them to be highly productive with lowered potential for injury. This is accomplished through the reduction of stress on the body as machine function absorbs much of the normal human effort such as twisting, pulling and pushing. These features help reduce muscle pulls and strains.
While sorters have been around for years, I never had the opportunity to use one regularly. In the past, when I would inquire about sorters, fellow managers generally talked about their limitations, their efficiency rating (how much better it made the operator) or the effort it took to keep them working properly.
Well, having recently viewed laundry associates actively working with automatic sorters in several plants and at the Clean Show this year, it occurred to me that I have a positive view of them. First, anything we can do to affect the health and welfare of our employees positively is worth consideration. Second, sometimes the object that helps you the most requires the most effort to keep it running properly. Automatic sorters require fine-tuning to keep them working properly.
The second piece of equipment I recommend adding is protective safety netting or metal barriers for bags hanging from a monorail system. This netting serves to catch linen or bags falling from a monorail. In the past, I have been in plants that managed around the suspended bags. Many times, this is accomplished by drawing safety lines on the floor. While this is acceptable, it requires people to make proper decisions to enhance their personal safety. Whether total or partial, eliminating safety decision points and opportunities for injury on a “permanent” basis is analogous to a solid foundation—once there, always there.
I have been in plants where all of the overhead bags are netted, and I have been in plants where a logical decision has been made to address the high-traffic areas, which would minimize potential accidents of dropped bags or linen. Sometimes you have to build plants so accidents just can’t happen because of safety redundancies.
In a previous article, I wrote about how automated monorails have been one of the greatest productive and safety additions to the laundry for me over the past 10 years. The massive elimination of movable carts has reduced hand pinches, foot injuries, and pushing/pulling strains, and eliminated the stopping and starting effort. It is truly amazing. It has been a pleasure to see the production and safety process grow hand in hand.
Equipment Manufacturing: Kelly Outram, Kannegiesser USA, Grand Prairie, Texas
I have been involved in the laundry industry since the late ’80s. Back in those days, we heard little concern regarding ergonomics. Today, it is a much different story, as evidenced by this month’s topic.
As I am working throughout my territory, now in the year 2015, the area of ergonomics and each of its core elements of body position, viewing sector, physical movement and repetitive motion are common discussion points when visiting with plant owners and operators.
Being in the capital equipment business, it is obvious that the majority of my plant visits involve discussions around upgrades of individual pieces of capital equipment and/or modernization of a facility’s plant design, flow and/or automation, and how improved ergonomics positively affects the relationship between an operator and his/her production machine.
While laundry owners are focusing more than ever on providing a safe working environment, laundry equipment manufacturers have put more effort into their design and technology to supply ergonomically sound equipment. Employee concerns and production demands have led to manufacturers providing more automated and ergonomic options throughout an industrial laundry’s plant operations.
Many of today’s washrooms have moved away from the physically demanding manual washer-extractor washroom to one that includes loading/unloading aids, all the way to operator-free washer-extractor systems. Automated tunnel washer systems are also common, given their added utility efficiencies, automated shuttle delivery systems, and dryers with automatic loading and unloading functions. Automated linen logistics systems, including monorail bags and integrated conveyor belts, are taking the place of manually moving linen carts around a production floor.
In the linen finishing department, the introduction of automated spreader-feeders back in the ’70s led to equipment manufacturers developing a full array of automated linen separators and linen-specific feeders and folders with stacking and even automatic sorting conveyors.
Many advancements have been developed for garment finishing as well, replacing the traditional manual processes of yesterday. With the evolution of fabric content over the years, it has allowed equipment manufacturers to develop more ergonomic options for processing wearable items. Ergonomic hanging stations, pass-through garment finishing tunnels, automatic sortation systems and automated garment-folding robots provide for high-volume processing with a completely automated and ergonomic process.
To answer the question, when considering new capital equipment for your facility, many new automated and ergonomic options are available for consideration throughout the production floor.
Chemicals Supply: David Barbe, U.N.X. Inc., Greenville, N.C.
As I get older, I am well aware of injuries, aches and pains, etc. Having accumulated a lot of wear and tear doing lots of dumb things, I would offer the following suggestions to minimize these issues.
Pay attention to your employees’ complaints. Talk to them. See what is physically hard for them. Look for tasks with repetitive movements involving extreme motions, high effort and twisting motions.
No one should raise or lower something heavy while twisting; I’ve hurt myself doing things in that manner. If the task requires these movements, find a way to change the procedure, the tools used, the machine being serviced, etc. Something has to be changed.
Do the task yourself for a while and then think about how to make it easier. Perhaps a team approach will help. Perhaps a new machine with a better design can eliminate the problem. Maybe machines can be moved to a new arrangement that will work better.
Teach your employees proper ergonomics. People who haven’t hurt themselves yet will try to do things the quick and/or easy way, rather than the safe way. Learning the lessons of safety by having to visit the emergency room is a painful way to learn.
Training films, constant reminders and diligent enforcement of rules and procedures are a better way to get people to be safe. It’s hard to get people to understand that even minor injuries can have lasting effects for the rest of their lives. Be a nag! Someday, they’ll appreciate you for it.
One of the heaviest things your employees have to move is a chemical drum. A 55-gallon drum of alkali will weigh more than 600 pounds. Don’t use a regular hand truck to move these; look for a drum truck. It has a lever system and four wheels that will make tipping and moving drums much easier and safer. Remember to have all the caps on the drums while moving them, and also replace caps on the empties.
Rotate tasks regularly. Almost any task or movement done often enough can cause physical problems. Yes, one employee may be better at a particular job, but they should move to other jobs and do something else regularly. When people get bored, they get complacent. Besides, having fully cross-trained people on your staff is an advantage when employees are absent. It takes more time and may be slower in the beginning, but it’s worth the investment.
Consider inviting the Occupational Safety & Health Administration or your insurance company to come look around your facility. Yes, I know inviting OSHA in sounds like business suicide, but the agency will be much easier to deal with if it’s apparent that you are putting in a good-faith effort to be safe. Work with its suggestions.
Your insurance company has a vested interest in your safety and your financial well-being. It has many highly qualified people who can offer suggestions to minimize your risk and theirs.
Tomorrow, see what our commercial laundry and uniform/workwear representatives have to say on the topic.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].