Pallet Stacking Security: Revealing 5 MSDs Details

Security is paramount in a manufacturing unit. Everybody needs their crew members to be wholesome and out there to carry out their jobs. Accidents are essentially the most undesirable final result, sometimes falling into two classes: instant and progressive.

Instant accidents, resembling a lower, burn, or damaged bone, require immediate medical therapy. Manufacturing amenities have private protecting tools (PPE) and security protocols to stop these accidents. Alternatively, progressive accidents construct up over time and could also be tougher to mitigate. A few of these progressive accidents embody listening to loss, respiratory points, and musculoskeletal problems (MSDs). 

This weblog article will focus on pallet stacking security and the way this handbook process will increase the dangers of musculoskeletal problems. We’ll introduce 5 essential details and give attention to security inside three key industries: Meals & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, and Shopper Items Manufacturing.

Reality 1: The UK misplaced 149.3 million working days to MSDs in 2021 [1]

How palletizing programs cut back MSDs in meals & beverage tertiary packaging

Reality 2: The incidence fee for MSDs in the US was 25.4 days per 10,000 full-time equal (FTE) staff in 2020 [2]

Working in meals manufacturing poses hazards. Whereas the trade has seen some profitable automation, meals and beverage manufacturing encompasses a remarkably numerous array of merchandise that make it difficult to automate totally. Meals and beverage manufacturing consists of powders (sugar, flour, spices, child meals), liquids (soda, wine, cooking oils, dressings, sauces), dry merchandise (cereals, nuts, espresso), and perishable merchandise (fruits, greens, cheeses). Dense merchandise (resembling drinks and powders) may be cumbersome. Different merchandise (resembling liquids) could shift with motion, making it extra harmful for an individual to elevate above their head or transfer under their waist. On the subject of palletizing merchandise, selecting and inserting require two key actions: again and shoulder flexion.

Decrease again ache will increase when there’s a longer period of again flexion in delicate (20° to 40°) and extreme (>45°) positions (reported by the College of Buffalo) or excessive again flexion (>60° per Division of Kinesiology on the College of Waterloo). The handbook palletizing of meals or liquids exposes folks to each. Those that have skilled again ache know that restoration can take a very long time.

Reality 3: Injured staff within the US wanted a median of 14 days earlier than returning to work [2]

Nevertheless, introducing collaborative robotic (cobot) programs in palletizing operations gives a promising answer. By assuming the bodily and repetitive pressure of inserting merchandise on pallets, cobots mitigate the chance of Musculoskeletal Problems (MSDs) related to palletizing duties. For instance, these cobots can execute lengthy horizontal and tall vertical reaches that might be harmful for a human employee.

Whereas the meals manufacturing trade tackles the inherent challenges of automating all through the worth stream, integrating cobots in palletizing operations represents a proactive step in direction of enhancing office security and lowering the incidence of MSDs.

Pallet stacking security in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Like meals and beverage manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing encompasses a variety of merchandise. It consists of merchandise resembling:

1. Strong drugs: These embody tablets, capsules, caplets, and drugs, usually in blister packs, bottles, or jars.
2. Liquid medicals: Pharmaceutical liquids resembling syrups, suspensions, options, and oral liquids are packaged in bottles, vials, ampoules, or sachets.
3. Powders and granules: Powders and granules could also be packaged in sachets, pouches, bottles, or jars and might embody merchandise like antibiotics, dietary and protein powders, or granules for oral administration.
4. Injectables: Injectable drugs, remedies, and vaccines are available vials, ampoules, or prefilled syringes. These require particular packaging and dealing with resulting from their route of administration.
5. Topical remedies: This class consists of lotions, ointments, gels, lotions, and patches. These are packaged in tubes, jars, or sachets.
6. Disposable sterile merchandise: Intravenous (IV) luggage, needles, infusion options, masks, gloves, face shields, and surgical kits require specialised packaging to keep up sterility.
7. Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs: OTC drugs can are available varied varieties however don’t require a prescription. These embody ache relievers, cough syrups, antacids, and allergy drugs.

Given the varied vary of pharmaceutical merchandise, packaging can fluctuate considerably in dimension, form, and weight. Some merchandise are heavy which poses a danger to staff manually inserting them on pallets.

Reality 4: 15-20% of misplaced working days within the UK had been resulting from MSDs in 2021 [1]

Moreover, automated palletizing programs play a significant function in defending the product being palletized. Given their usually excessive worth and delicate nature, minimizing product waste and injury is prioritized after employee security. Automated palletizers guarantee exact, constant dealing with and palletization, thereby lowering the chance of unintended injury. By implementing automated palletizing programs, pharmaceutical producers can’t solely improve employee security but additionally safeguard product high quality and integrity, finally contributing to operational effectivity and regulatory compliance.

Decreasing materials dealing with dangers in client items manufacturing

In client items manufacturing, the manufacturing setting is dynamic, with a variety of merchandise being processed and packaged. Shopper items embody varied objects, together with: 

1. Family Merchandise: cleansing provides, filters, pots, pans 
2. Workplace Merchandise: Printer ink, pens, pencils, paper, extension cords
3. Electronics and Home equipment: espresso makers, headphones, laptop computer batteries
4. Private Care Merchandise: cosmetics, hair care, oral hygiene merchandise

Handbook palletizing in client items manufacturing poses further security dangers to staff. Merchandise tower on pallets, requiring workers to put merchandise each under and above waist degree. This follow will increase the probability of musculoskeletal accidents, significantly when coping with heavy or cumbersome objects. Lifting, climbing, pushing, pulling, and pivoting are the first actions in handbook materials dealing with (MMH) actions, which create a danger of harm on the again and shoulder.

Reality 5: MSDs are liable for about $50 billion in annual prices within the US [3]

Automated palletizing programs provide an answer to those challenges by lowering reliance on handbook labor and minimizing the related danger to folks. By automating the palletizing course of, these programs alleviate the bodily pressure on staff and create a safer working setting. They will deal with all kinds of client merchandise effectively and precisely, guaranteeing correct stacking and palletization with out the chance of human error.

Conclusion

Offering folks with a secure working setting is a high precedence for meals & beverage, pharmaceutical, and client product producers. Accidents, whether or not instant or progressive, pose important dangers to staff and might result in substantial lack of working days and productiveness. Musculoskeletal problems (MSDs) are among the many progressive accidents that may end result from handbook duties like pallet stacking, significantly prevalent within the manufacturing of Meals & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, and Shopper Items.

By means of the dialogue of 5 essential details, it turns into evident that bodily pressure, together with repetitive motions, awkward postures, and overexertion, considerably will increase the chance of MSDs. Nevertheless, the mixing of automation (resembling collaborative robotic programs) gives a promising answer to mitigate these dangers. Cobots can deal with the bodily pressure of palletizing duties, lowering the probability of MSDs, rising pallet stacking security, and enhancing general office security.

General, by embracing automation in palletizing operations, industries can create safer working environments, shield employee well being, and enhance operational effectivity, finally resulting in better productiveness and success.

The long run is secure

At Robotiq, we comply with the rules of LEAN ROBOTICS to create a standardized answer that’s simpler to scale, repeatable, and simple to make use of. We make it straightforward to transition from handbook palletizing to automated palletizing. 

Implementation is less complicated than you assume. Discuss with considered one of our automation specialists at this time to kickstart your venture. (Your folks will thanks).

In case you are able to make the transfer to automating your end-of-line course of, our FREE Automated Palletizing Purchaser’s Information offers you insider recommendations on discovering the most effective automated palletizing answer for what you are promoting.