Enhancing safety with sensors

The engineering environment throws up some aggressive conditions for its workers, and risks to Health and Safety are manifested in many forms, be they chemicals, high pressure fluids, extremes of temperature, molten metals, or a whole catalogue of further dangers.  Thankfully, technological advances have delivered enhanced processes to protect us from these conditions.

One highly effective way to reduce injury, as well as downtime and potentially expensive production losses, is enhancing predictive maintenance.  Rotating machinery (for example, motors, gearboxes, pump, screens, crushers, conveyors) must be continuously monitored to warn of bearing and component wear but is frequently installed in areas that are difficult to access.  The use of remote vibration monitoring systems enables both performance and safety levels to be maximised, as engineers are no longer required to come into close contact with potentially hazardous equipment.  This is one of many reasons why the technique of vibration monitoring has been accepted and proven as a highly cost-effective method of maximising efficiency and profitability. Our new HS-420S vibration sensor meets high customer demand for a low profile and cost-effective industrial accelerometer that is ideal in a wide range of applications where space and access to apparatus is limited. Weighing just 170 grams, and measuring 25mm in width and 35mm in length, the HS-420S vibration sensor can also be used for offline applications using commercially available data collectors.

There is always work to do in understanding, evaluating and appreciating the risks that workers face in order to establish the most cost-effective and efficient safety practices.  This can be a complex task but a worthwhile one from all perspectives because, while personnel safety is undoubtedly the most important factor, the prevention of accidents also improves productivity and profitability, which benefits everyone in the business.