Machinery Safety Part 2

Machinery Safety Part 2(High Risk Machinery Part 1)

Presented by: Eng. Luxman Graciyas Jansz

Legislation

In Sri Lankan legislation High Risk Machinery is covered under the Factories Ordinance in Part III, SAFETY (GENERAL PROVISIONS), from section 27 to 29 and 34 to 38.

Under the Factories Ordinance, there are eight (08) categories of high risk machineries shall be thoroughly examined and certified and test certificate entered in or attached to the general register available in the factory. In this article only the following four (04) categories of high risk machineries are included and the balance four (04) will be in the next article.

Hoists and lifts - Section 27

Chains, ropes and lifting tackle - Section 28

Cranes and other lifting machines - Section 29

Steam boilers - Section 34

 

Hoists and lifts

Section 27. (1) Every hoist or lift shall be of good mechanical construction, sound material and adequate strength, and be properly maintained.

(2) Every hoist or lift shall be thoroughly examined by a competent person at least once in every period of twelve months, and a report of the result of every such examination in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed shall be signed by the person making the examination and shall within fourteen days be entered in or attached to the general register.

(3) Every hoist way or lift way shall be efficiently protected by a substantial enclosure fitted with gates, being such an enclosure as to prevent, when the gates are shut, any person falling down the way or coming into contact with any moving part of the hoist or lift.

(4) Any such gate as aforesaid shall be fitted with efficient interlocking or other devices to secure that the gate cannot be opened except when the cage or platform is at the landing and that the cage or platform cannot be moved away from the landing until the gate is closed: Provided that, in the case of a hoist or lift constructed or reconstructed before the appointed date which it is not reasonably practicable to fit with such devices as aforesaid, it shall be sufficient if the gate is provided with such arrangements as will secure the aforesaid objects so far as is reasonably practicable, and in any event is kept closed and fastened except when the cage or platform is at rest at the landing.

(5) Every hoist or lift and every such enclosure as aforesaid shall be so constructed as to prevent any part of any person or any goods carried in the hoist or lift being trapped between any part of the hoist or lift and any fixed structure or between the counterbalance weight and any other moving part of the hoist or lift.

(6) There shall be marked conspicuously on every hoist or lift the maximum working load which it can safely carry and no load greater than that load shall be required or permitted to be carried on any hoist or lift.

(7) The following additional requirements shall apply to hoists and lifts used for carrying persons, whether together with goods or otherwise:-

(a) efficient automatic devices shall be provided and maintained to prevent the cage or platform overrunning;

(b) every cage shall on each side from which access is afforded to a landing, be fitted with a gate, and in connection with every such gate efficient devices shall be provided to secure that, when persons or goods are in the cage, the cage cannot be raised or lowered unless the gate is closed, and will come to rest when

the gate is opened: Provided that, in the case of a hoist or lift constructed or reconstructed before the appointed date in connection with which it is not reasonably practicable to provide such devices as aforesaid, it shall be sufficient if such arrangements are provided as will secure the aforesaid objects so far as is reasonably practicable, and in any event the gate is kept closed and fastened except when the cage is at rest or empty; and

(c) in case of a hoist or lift constructed or reconstructed after the appointed date, where the platform or cage is suspended by rope or chain, there shall be at least two ropes or chains separately connected with the platform or cage, each rope or chain and its attachments being capable of carrying the whole weight of the platform or cage and its maximum working load, and efficient devices shall be provided and maintained which will support the platform or cage with its maximum working load in the event of a breakage of the ropes or chains or any of their attachments.

(8) In the case of a continuous hoist or lift, subsections (3) to (7) inclusive of this section shall not apply and in the case of a hoist or lift not connected with mechanical power subsections (4) and (7) shall not apply.

(9) For the purposes of this section, no lifting machine or appliance shall be deemed to be a hoist or lift unless it has a platform or cage the direction of movement of which is restricted by a guide or guides.

(10) Every teagle opening or similar doorway used for hoisting or lowering goods or materials, whether by mechanical power or otherwise, shall be securely fenced, and shall be provided with a secure hand-hold on each side of the opening or doorway. The fencing shall be properly maintained and shall, except when the hoisting or lowering of goods or materials is being carried on at the opening or doorway, be kept in position.

(11) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that it would be unreasonable in the special circumstances of the case to enforce any requirement of this section in respect of any class or description of hoist, lift, hoist way, lift way, or teagle opening or similar doorway, he may by order direct that such requirement shall not apply as respects that class or description.

Chains, ropes and lifting tackle

Section 28. (1) The following provisions shall be complied with as respects every chain, rope or lifting tackle used for the purpose of raising or lowering persons, goods or materials:-

(a) no chain, rope or lifting tackle shall be used unless it is of good construction, sound material, adequate strength and free from patent defect;

(b) a table showing the safe working loads of every kind and size of chain, rope or lifting tackle in use, and, in the case of a multiple sling, the safe working load at different angles of the legs, shall be posted in the store in which the chains, ropes or lifting tackle are kept, and in prominent positions on the premises, and no chain, rope or lifting tackle not shown in the table shall be used, so, however, that the foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not apply in relation to any lifting tackle if the safe working load thereof or in the case of a multiple sling, the safe working load at different angles of the legs is plainly marked upon it;

(c) no chain, rope or lifting tackle shall be used for any load exceeding the safe working load thereof as shown by the table aforesaid or marked upon it as aforesaid;

(d) all chains, ropes and lifting tackle in use shall be thoroughly examined by a competent person at least once in every period of six months or at such greater intervals as the Commissioner may by order prescribe;

(e) no chain, rope or lifting tackle, except a fiber rope or fiber rope sling, shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time in that factory unless it has been tested and thoroughly examined by a competent person and a certificate of such a test and examination specifying the safe working load and signed by the

person making the test and examination has been obtained and is kept available for inspection;

(f) every chain and lifting tackle except a rope sling shall, unless of a class or description exempted by certificate of the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer upon the ground that it is made of such material or so constructed that it cannot be subjected to heat treatment without risk of damage or that it has been subjected to some form of heat treatment (other than annealing) approved by him, be annealed at least once in every fourteen months, or in the case of chains or slings of half-inch bar or smaller, or chains used in connection with molten metal or molten slag, in every six months, so however, that chains and lifting tackle not in regular use need be annealed only when necessary;

(g) a register containing such particulars as may be prescribed shall be kept with respect to all such chains ropes or lifting tackle, except fiber rope slings.

(2) In this section the expression “lifting tackle” means chain slings, rope slings, rings, hooks, shackles and swivels.

(3) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that it would be unreasonable in the special circumstances of the case to enforce all or any of the provisions of subsection (1) in respect of any class or description of chains, ropes and lifting tackle, he may by order direct that such provisions shall not apply as respects that class or description.

Cranes and other lifting machines

Section 29. (1) All parts and working gear whether fixed or movable, including the anchoring and fixing appliances, of every lifting machine shall be of good construction, sound material, adequate strength and free from patent defect, and shall be properly maintained.

(2) All such parts and gear as aforesaid shall be thoroughly examined by a competent person at least once in every period of fourteen months and a register shall be kept containing such particulars of every examination as may be prescribed.

(3) All rails on which a travelling crane moves and every track on which the carriage of a transporter or runway moves shall be of proper size and adequate strength and have an even running surface; and any such rails or track shall be properly laid, adequately supported or suspended, and properly maintained.

(4) There shall be plainly marked on every lifting machine the safe working load or loads thereof, except that in the case of a jib crane so constructed that the safe working load may be varied by the raising or lowering of the jib, there shall be attached thereto either an automatic indicator of safe working loads or a table indicating the safe working loads at corresponding inclinations of the jib or corresponding radii of the load.

(5) No lifting machine shall, except for the purpose of a test, be loaded beyond the safe working load as marked or indicated under the last foregoing subsection.

(6) No lifting machine shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time in that factory unless it has been tested and all such parts and working gear of the machine as are specified in subsection (1) of this section have been thoroughly examined by a competent person and a certificate of such a test and examination specifying the safe working load or loads of the machine and signed by the person making the test and examination has been obtained and is kept available for inspection.

(7) If any person is employed or working on or near the wheel-track of an overhead travelling crane in any place where he would be liable to be struck by the crane, effective measures shall be taken by warning the driver of the crane or otherwise to ensure that the crane does not approach within twenty feet of that place.

(8) In this section the expression “lifting machine” means a crane, crab, winch, teagle, pulley block, gin wheel, transporter or runway.

Steam boilers

Section 34. (1) Every steam boiler, whether separate or one of a range-

(a) shall have attached to it -

(i) a suitable safety valve, separate from any stop-valve, which shall be so adjusted as to prevent the boiler being worked at a pressure greater than the maximum permissible working pressure and shall be fixed directly to or as close as practicable to, the boiler;

(ii) a suitable stop-valve connecting the boiler to the steam pipe; (iii)a correct steam pressure gauge connected to the steam space and easily visible by the boiler attendant, which shall indicate the pressure of steam in the boiler in pounds per square inch, and have marked upon it in a distinctive colour the maximum permissible working pressure;

(iv) at least one water gauge of transparent material or other type approved by the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer to show the water level in the boiler, and, if the gauge is of the glass tubular type and the working pressure in the boiler normally exceeds forty pounds per square inch, the gauge shall be provided with an efficient guard but not so as to obstruct the reading of the gauge;

(v) where it is one of two or more boilers, a plate bearing a distinctive number which shall be easily visible; and

(b) shall be provided with means for attaching a test pressure gauge; and

(c) unless externally fired, shall be provided with a suitable fusible plug or an efficient low water alarm device:

Provided that sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not apply with respect to economizers, and sub-paragraphs (iii), (iv) and (v) of paragraph (a), and paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection shall not apply with respect to either economizers or super heaters.

(2) For the purposes of the last foregoing subsection, a lever-valve shall not be deemed a suitable safety valve unless the weight is secured on the lever in the correct position.

(3) No person shall enter or be in any steam boiler which is one of a range of two or more steam boilers unless –

(a) all inlets through which steam or hot water might otherwise enter the boiler from any other part of the range are disconnected from that part; or Steam boilers.

(b) all valves or taps controlling such entry are closed and securely locked, and, where the boiler has a blow-off pipe in common with one or more other boilers or delivering into a common blow-off vessel or sump, the blow off valve or tap on each such boiler is so constructed that it can only be opened by a key which cannot be removed until the valve or tap is closed and is the only key in use for that set of blow-off valves or taps.

[§ 8, Law 12 of 1976.]

(3A) No person shall attend on or operate any steam boiler unless he is authorized in writing by the holder of a certificate issued under subsection (6). No person shall be authorized under this section unless after compliance with such requirements as may be prescribed.

[§ 8, Law 12 of 1976.]

(3B) (a) No steam boiler in use in any factory before the notified date shall be so used after a period of three months has elapsed from the notified date, unless a certificate of registration is issued by the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer in respect of such boiler on application made in that behalf.

(b) On and after the notified date no new steam boiler shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time and no steam boiler which had been used in any factory shall be taken into use in any other factory for the first time unless a certificate of registration is issued by the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer in respect of such steam boiler on application made in that behalf.

(c) The Minister may by regulations –

(i) prescribe the form of application and the form of certificate; and

(ii) require that records be maintained in respect of each steam boiler in such form as may be prescribed.

(4) Every part of every steam boiler shall be of good construction, sound material, adequate strength, and free from patent defect.

(5) Every steam boiler and all its fittings and attachments shall be properly maintained.

[§ 8, Law 12 of 1976.]

(6) Every steam boiler and all its fittings and attachments shall be thoroughly examined by a person who is the holder of a certificate issued in that behalf by the Commissioner at least once in every period of twelve months, and also after any extensive repairs: Provided ,that, in the case of any range of boiler used at the appointed date for the purposes of a process requiring a continuous supply of steam, any stop-valve on the range which cannot be isolated from steam under pressure need only be examined so far as is practicable without such isolation, but this proviso shall cease to have effect as soon as a reasonable opportunity arises for installing devices to enable the valve to be so isolated and, in any case, at the expiration of a period of three years from the appointed date.

(7) Any examination in accordance with the requirements of the last foregoing subsection shall consist, in the first place, of an examination of the boiler when it is cold and the interior and exterior have been prepared in the prescribed manner, and secondly, except in the case of an economizer or super heater, of an examination when it is under normal steam pressure, and the two parts of the examination may be carried out by different persons; the examination under steam pressure shall be made on the first occasion when steam is raised after the examination of the boiler when cold, or as soon as possible thereafter, and the person making the examination shall see that the safety valve is so adjusted as to prevent the boiler being worked at a pressure greater than the maximum permissible working pressure.

(8) A report of the result of every such examination in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed (including the maximum permissible working pressure) shall, as soon as practicable and in any case within twenty-eight days of the completion of the examination, be entered in or attached to the general register, and the report shall be signed by the person making the examination, and if that person is an inspector of a boiler-inspecting company or association, countersigned by the chief engineer of the company or association or by such other responsible officer of the company or association as may be authorized in writing in that behalf by the chief engineer. For the purposes of this subsection and the succeeding provisions of this section relating to reports of examinations, the examination of a boiler when it is cold and its examination when it is under steam pressure shall be treated as separate examinations.

(9) (a) No new steam boiler shall be taken into use for the first time in any factory unless –

(i)                 there has been obtained from the manufacturer of the boiler or from a boiler-inspecting company or association, a certificate specifying the maximum permissible working pressure of the boiler and stating the nature of the tests to which the boiler and fittings have been submitted; and

(ii)               the certificate is kept available for inspection on the premises of the factory; and

(iii) the boiler is so marked as to enable it to be identified as the boiler to which the certificate relates.

(b) No steam boiler which has previously been used in any other place shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time in that factory until the boiler has been examined and reported on in accordance with the last three foregoing subsections, and unless such examination has been carried out after the installation of the boiler in the factory.

(10) Where the report of any examination under this section specifies conditions for securing the safe working of a steam boiler, the boiler shall not be used except in accordance with those conditions.

(11) The person making the report of any examination under this section, or, where that person is an inspector of a boiler-inspecting company or association, the chief engineer thereof, shall within twenty-eight days of the completion of the examination send to the District Factory Inspecting Engineer for the district a copy of the report in every case where the maximum permissible working pressure is reduced, or the examination shows that the boiler cannot continue to be used with safety unless certain repairs are carried out immediately or within a specified time.

[§ 3, 18 of 1998.]

(12) If the person employed to make any such examination fails to make a thorough examination as required by this section or makes a report which is false or deficient in any material particular, or if the chief engineer of any boiler-inspecting company or association permits any such report to be made, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees, and if any such person or chief engineer fails to send to the District Factory Inspecting Engineer for the district a copy of any report as required by the preceding subsection, he shall be guilty of an offence.

[§ 8 Law 12 of 1976.]

(13) If the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer is not satisfied as to the thoroughness of the examination, he may require the boiler to be re-examined by three persons nominated by him, and the occupier shall give the necessary facilities for such re-examination. If as a result of such reexamination it appears that the report of the examination was inadequate or inaccurate in any material particular, the cost of the re-examination shall be recoverable from the occupier as a debt due to the State and the report of the re-examination purporting to be signed by the persons making it shall be admissible in evidence and be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.

[§ 8 Law 12 of 1976.]

(14) In this Part, the expression “maximum permissible working pressure” means, in the case of a new steam boiler, that specified in the certificate referred to in subsection (9) of this section and in the case of a steam boiler which has been examined in accordance with the provisions of this section, that specified in the report of the last examination; and the expression “steam boiler” means any closed vessel in which for any purpose steam is generated under pressure greater than atmospheric pressure, and includes any hot water boiler working at a temperature of not less than 110 degrees centigrade, any economizer used to heat the water fed to any such vessel, and any super heater used for heating steam.

(15) This section shall not apply to any boiler belonging to or exclusively used in the service of the State, which is exempted there from by the Minister on the ground that an efficient staff is employed for keeping such boilers in sound condition.

Reference: The Factories Ordinance No. 45 of 1942 and subsequent amendments.

Presented by: Eng. Luxman Graciyas Jansz

                       B. Sc. Eng, Chartered Engineer, FIE (Sri Lanka), MIIE (USA)

                       Visiting Lecturer – University of Moratuwa (Sri Lanka), CETRAC & NIOSH

                        Specialist Factory Inspecting Engineer,

                        97, Industrial Safety Division,

                        Department of Labour, Colombo-05, Sri Lanka.

                        Tel: +94-714461670, +94-112507104

                              E-mail: lgjansz@yahoo.com, Web: www.schri.com/safetymeasures