HSE alerts the rubber industry to revised procedures on threading up calenders

HSE Press Release: E115:04 - 6 August 2004

The Health and Safety Executive has issued supplementary guidance detailing the safeguards required for threading up calenders used by firms in the rubber industry.

Calenders are used to create the desired finish or to ensure uniform thickness in material or rubber. The machine consists of a number of horizontal rolls that can be either heated or unheated, through which material or rubber is passed under pressure. Injuries can occur when material is threaded into the rollers, when fingers, hands or arms can become trapped.

The new advice applies to calenders installed before 1998 and revises guidance first published by The Rubber Industry Advisory Committee (RUBIAC). It requires all safety guards to be in position during threading; a minimum of two people in attendance during the whole threading operation; and the use of slow crawl throughout.

The guidance on threading given in RUBIAC's original publication, Safeguarding of Calenders in the Rubber Industry, was found to be impractical for most calenders that predate the publication and, as a result, the guidance was routinely ignored.

A single page amendment to the specific section covering threading has now been produced. The remaining parts of the publication are unaltered by this amendment.

Notes to editors

1. HSE's manufacturing sector covers a wide range of industries, including engineering, shipbuilding and repair, motor vehicle repair, textiles, printing, wood working, paper, rubber, plastics, metals, foundries, ceramics, quarries, glass, concrete, cement, and waste recycling - in all employing around four million working people.

2. Copies of "Safeguarding of calenders in the rubber industry" ISBN 0 7176 1456 5, price £6.00, are available from HSE Books http://books.hse.gov.uk

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