Safety stickers and warning labels should be affixed at pinch points, service access doors, and other hazardous areas on conveyor equipment. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to supply and whenever possible, apply safety warnings to equipment. These signs must be kept clean and legible, and should be reapplied appropriately to suit changes in equipment or procedures. It is the responsibility of operations management to replace worn, damaged, or unreadable safety warnings. It is the responsibility of the employee to comply with safety signage.
Signs warning of equipment that can be remotely started should be placed prominently along the conveyor. Many times the conveyor belts start automatically or when triggered by an operator in a remote control room, nowhere near the conveyor.
Chutes that have flow aid devices such as air cannons, that can seriously injure employees when discharged, must be clearly marked. This situation also requires the chute to be marked with restrictions for vessel entry. Flow aids must be de-energized and properly locked out/ tagged out /blocked out /tested out and chutes cleaned prior to chute entry.
Safety stickers and signs are available from reputable manufacturers of conveyors and related equipment, as well as safety supply houses. In the United States, the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) has a variety of safety and precautionary labels available for bulk material conveyors and several common accessories. These labels can be viewed and ordered from the organization’s website at cemanet.org.
Signage incorporating pictograms may be required to protect all workers in plants where multiple languages are spoken. If required, translation of the messages of safety signage should be performed locally to ensure accurate meaning. (The International Organization for Standardization has a goal to eliminate words that need to be translated and use signs that incorporate only pictures.)
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