Worker safety and food safety are drivers in today's conveyor technology.
Maintaining safety
While food safety is a major priority for processors utilizing conveyors throughout their facilities, so is worker safety. As with product safety, standards for employee safety are just as important. “When we design belts, we work to keep away from sharp corners and avoid anything that can be a pinch point. It also has to be user friendly, so someone can handle product on the belt and be safe,” Lasecki says.
Spiak agrees that worker safety is in tandem with food safety as a driver of conveyor design and function. “Many large processors are very focused on improving safety for workers, and are working to eliminate (injuries) like abrasions, cuts, evolutions and amputations,” he remarks, pointing to conveyor features like physical guards, curtains and sensors. “We’re really hearing from our customer base that conveyors need to be redesigned and rebuilt with more safety features.”
