Belt Conveyor Safety, Chapter 1 Page | of 3, Rev.1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.1 GENERAL 1.2 SAFETY CopyrightBelt Conveyor Safety, Chapter | Page 2 of 3, Rev.1 is 1d 12 INTRODUCTION GENERAL This manual has been written to provide designers, constructors, operators and maintainers of troughed belt conveyors with some practical advice on conveyor safety, with particular emphasis on belt conveyors used in the mining industry. The author has been involved with the design of bulk materials handling systems for four decades, including the preparation of conveyor safety standards for mining companies. ‘The manual is divided into two main parts: * The first part covers personnel safety and includes a review of Australian Standard AS 1755-2000 Conveyors ~ Safety requirements, * The second part covers equipment safety and includes various aspects of conveyor design, operation and maintenance that can affect the safe operation of the mechanical and structural components of a belt conveyor. A glossary of belt conveyor terminology together with details of the mass of panel-type guards are included in the appendices of this manual. ‘This manual has been prepared with the best of intentions and in the interest of safety. However, the decision to utilise any of the information contained herein rests with the user and the author accepts no responsibility. SAFETY This manual is about belt conveyor safety but what does the term ‘safety’ really mean? The Macquarie dictionary defines ‘safety’ as follows: “the state of being safe; freedom from injury or danger.” Applying this definition of safety to conveyors and other industrial equipment requires the notion of ‘practicability’. ‘The Macquarie dictionary defines ‘practicable’ as “capable of being put into practice, with the available means or with reason or prudence; feasible.” The definition of ‘practicable’ in the Western Australian Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 is as follows: “practicable” means reasonably practicable having regard, where the context permits, to— (a) the severity of any potential injury or harm to health that may be involved and the degree of risk of such injury or harm occurring: and (b) the state of knowledge about ~ i. the injury or harm to health referred to in paragraph (a); and li. the risk of that injury or harm to health occurring; and iii. means of removing or mitigating the potential injury or harm to health; and (c) the availability, suitability, and cost of the means referred to in paragraph (bNiti): CopyrightBelt Conveyor Safety, Chapter 1 Page 3 of 3, Rev.1 In this definition of ‘practicable’, the introduction of the word ‘reasonably’ also needs to be defined. The Macquarie dictionary gives the following definition of ‘reasonably’: “not exceeding the limit prescribed by reason; not excessive.” In addition, the meaning of the word ‘context’ is, in this case, “the circumstances or facts surrounding a particular event, etc.” Alll industrialised nations have safety standards and government acts relating to safety. In Australia, each state has it’s own Government Acts and Regulations for Mining and Occupational Health and Safety. It is therefore the responsibility of designers, fabricators, constructors and operators of conveyor systems to be familiar with the applicable statutory legislation, The objective of government departments involved in this area is to promote the policy that people should have a working environment that is as safe as ‘practicable’. However, in all areas of human activity there are risks, be they work- related or otherwise. People still get killed on the roads, planes occasionally crash and people get killed or seriously injured, both at work and while following various recreational pursuits. In other words, we can’t eliminate risk, we can only ‘minimise’ it. ‘The big issue is how far should we go to ‘minimise the risk’ ? Section 67 of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission National Standard for Plant NOHSC:1010 (1994) [2] gives the following approach to minimising risk: 67. CONTROL OF RISK 67.1 Where an assessment under Clause 66, identifies a requirement to control @ risk to health or safety, that risk must be eliminated or, where it cannot be eliminated, minimised. 67.2 To minimise the risk to health and safety, one or a combination of the following approaches must be used: (a) substitution of the plant by less hazardous plant; (b) modification of the design of the plant; (c) isolation of the plant; and/or (d) engineering controls such as guarding. In conclusion, the regulatory authorities involved with conveyor safety now place greater emphasis on ‘responsibility’, ‘duty of care’ and ‘effective risk management”. Everyone involved should be aware of their responsibilities under the applicable safety legislation. If a risk is identified, an appropriate risk assessment should be carried out. The objective of risk management is to control the identified risks to ‘acceptable’ levels and those acceptable levels may be governed by ‘practicability’, and accordingly some level of common sense should prevail, If any errors, typographical or otherwise are found in this manual, please notify the author c/- Conveyor Design Consultants of W.A. The errors will be corrected and a revised sheet issued to the owners of all registered manuals. Copyright