A safer workplace thanks to personal detector belts

DS Smith Recycling Italy installed an innovative emergency system that increases employee’s safety in the recycling depots and provides safety officers with the most complete control on each step of the safety procedures.

The system works in a very easy way: each depot operator at the start of the shift must put on a belt  featuring  a special built-in microchip; when the operator passes through the workplace entrance’s scanner, a warning light highlights the existence of problems (if any), for example a chip not working.

Each belt has its own code so that every time an employee passes through the scanner, the entry/exit is recorded. In this way each operator’s movements can be identified and accountability is certain in case of misuse of the security system.

Before starting using the conveyor belt bringing materials to the compactor, every operator needs to connect the belt to the piece of machinery so that the employee’s presence is registered in the system and any accidents can be prevented.

On the conveyor belt, in fact, there’s an additional scanner (the yellow ‘bridge’ on top of the conveyor) which can detect any registered operators that get in a 5 meter radius from it. If an operator enters the radius, the system instantly stops all machinery and causes the alarm to go off since it might well be that he/she accidentally fell on the conveyor or, however, the operator is in a dangerous place.

The system offers very high safety standards since it is certified by IMQ (Italian certification authority) as emergency system.

Many years of work were needed to achieve this goal. 15 years ago the company Ecoassistenza (patents’ proprietor) started to develop the system in collaboration with DS Smith Recycling Italia: our colleagues in Italy offered support for development and field testing at the Novara and Milano depots, using their own space, time and employees to collaborate to the creation of a fully working system. The idea was to create something to improve safety and control but, at the same time, that could be mounted over metallic structures without interference problems.

Currently, the system is installed at our Milano and Torino depots but it’s used by other big companies in Italy like Fiat and A2A. In the future, the same system will be installed also at Ancona and Marina di Montemarciano depots.

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