By Christian King, General Manager, Kee Systems
When we speak to customers about our range of Self Closing Safety Gates many understand why they need to install a gate as part of a demarcation barrier system in factories, warehouses and loading bays, but a critical area that is often overlooked is where ladders are used to access machinery.
Working with machinery can be dangerous; especially as moving parts can cause injury, so you need to ensure you have a safe system of work for both using and maintaining machinery. If a fixed ladder is being used to access the machinery, then you must ensure the safety of those using the ladder.
EN 14122
BS EN 14122 Safety Machinery – Permanent means of access to machinery outlines the general requirements for safe access to machines and applies to all machinery, stationary and mobile, where a fixed means of access is needed. Part 4 relates specifically to fixed ladders and can also be applied to ladders which are not permanently fixed to the machine but move to the side or pivot for operations such as changing tools in a large press.
In order to prevent a person falling through the access opening at arrival areas, the opening should have a gate.
Under BS EN 14122, the gates must meet the following requirements:
- opening direction of this gate shall not be towards the edge of the drop (outwards)
- gate shall be designed so, that it can be opened easily
- gate shall close automatically, e. g. by means of springs or the effects of gravity
Self closing safety gates can be easily retrofitted to existing structures and offer a simple solution to fall protection on fixed ladders by overcoming the risk of human error that’s associated with chains and sliding tubes as they automatically close behind the user.
Our Blog “The Benefits of Spring Loaded Safety Gates” outlines further details on the use of self closing safety gates.
Thu, 03/24/2016 – 13:46
Why you should install a self closing safety gates on fixed ladders used with machinery.
Fixed ladder safety in line with BS14122
