Case study 4 – printing industry, using improved technology

The task

Very large reels of paper were transported on powered rollers and ejected forcefully by a machine onto a reel trolley used to load the machine. As the reel was ejected the operator had to throw his body over the reel and pull to stop the reel from rolling straight over the trolley. Sometimes he also had to push the trolley to a turntable from which it was loaded into the press.

Assessing the risk

This task required high levels of pushing force to manoeuvre the reels onto trolleys. The minimum force required for the reel to mount the 750mm high trolley was a pushing force greater than 375N (37.5kg). Once moving the maintaining force fell to between 140N (14kg) and 230N (23kg). These forces significantly exceeded the guideline figure and therefore posed a risk of injury to the worker.

The solution

The company bought a mechanical device e.g. a power tug, to load the reels onto the trolley. This significantly reduced the force that operators had to exert during all reel-moving operations and also gave greater control over the operation. The process of transferring reels onto trolleys can be difficult due to the timing of the machine and the force and speed needed to get the reel onto the trolley.