Working in industrial environments entails extra care; with employees busy with their hands operating different machinery and equipment, safety is crucial. In line with this, the introduction of safety light curtains has provided a reliable and effective way to keep employees safe from potential hazards brought about by using machinery and equipment.
What are safety light curtains?
Safety light curtains are light beams or “curtains” that emit light when they sense movement in hazardous areas. These lights serve as a warning for personnel to avoid accessing a dangerous area or to halt machine operations when someone enters a protected zone.
How do they work?
Safety light curtains use infrared light pulses as a transmitter, so when an object passes through it, it interrupts the pulses, halting the machine from operation. These have made work environments much safer so employees can continue with their work without worrying about their safety.
Are there different types of safety light curtains?
Safety curtain lights come in many different types and forms to accompany various uses, such as the following:
Hand protection. Beam lights designed to detect mid- to somewhat large objects, like an employee’s hands, can be integrated around machinery where full-body access is not allowed.
Finger protection. Beam lights are also designed to detect small objects, like your finger, which offers a certain degree of protection against risks when operating machinery.
Body protection. For more dangerous areas, safety curtain lights also detect larger objects, like the human body.
What are the benefits of implementing safety light curtains?
On top of accommodating different sizes, one great benefit of safety curtain lights is they can be incorporated into floor layouts or the machine’s control system, ensuring that it will result in a quick and reliable response time to any intrusion in the selected area. They also have other advantages, such as:
It boosts worker safety. The primary function of safety light curtains is to improve workers’ safety. By instantly stopping the movement of machines and equipment once they come in contact with the light curtain, the system prevents accidents and unlikely scenarios, protecting workers.
Easy installation and maintenance. Modern safety light curtains are installed easily with minimal maintenance, eliminating the need for additional handling costs.
Increase productivity. Some might think installing safety curtain lights might deter the workflow, given how it will halt any machine movement once it comes in contact with the body or other certain objects. Though people would believe it’s counterintuitive, the curtain lights provide a reliable safety barrier that allows workers to work with confidence, without worrying about their well-being. Compared to integrating physical barriers into accident-prone areas, safety curtain lights are enough warning and protection for them.
Reduces downtime. By preventing accidents, the integration of safety light curtains minimizes downtime caused by injuries and repairs. As a result, worker productivity increases and reduces workers’ worries and fatigue.
Complies with safety standards. Rather than incur a penalty for harboring a dangerous work environment, adopting safety curtain lights helps businesses comply with safety standards and regulations as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines.