Seasonal shutdowns have long been features of the manufacturing calendar. Whilst there may be a tendency to consider them a nuisance and merely as lost production time, here at Safety Systems Technology, our experience has demonstrated that these periods represent an important and strategic opportunity. By carrying out a factory shutdown machinery safety review, manufacturers can consolidate the safety of machinery, ensure regulatory compliance and increase overall reliability for the year ahead.
Rather than viewing downtime as a cost, using it for essential system checks transforms it into a proactive investment in future safety, compliance and productivity.
Why a Planned Shutdown is the Ideal Time for a Safety Review
Unlike unplanned downtime caused by a failure, a seasonal shutdown is a known, scheduled event. This predictability provides a finite and protected window where safety engineers can gain unrestricted access to machinery without the pressure of working around production schedules.
This then allows for the kind of in-depth assessments that are often impractical during the normal run of events. Indeed, this approach also follows guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which recommends using planned downtime for maintenance work. Effectively, a shutdown is an opportunity to adopt a proactive stance, identifying and rectifying issues on your own schedule and not when incidents force reaction.
Meeting Your PUWER Obligations and Closing the Compliance Gap
PUWER is the foundation of industrial safeguarding, placing a clear and unambiguous duty on employers to ensure equipment is safe, inspected at suitable intervals, and fitted with appropriate safeguarding.
Notwithstanding this, in our experience there is a persistent ‘compliance gap’ in many facilities. All too often we see a significant difference between documented risk assessments and the shopfloor reality of a temperamental interlock, a loose bollard, a damaged or comprised guard or a bypassed safety circuit. HSE data on injuries caused by contact with moving machinery unfortunately supports this reality.
A thorough review, during a shutdown for example, is the single most effective way to find and close this gap, stress-testing your systems against the regulations before they result in a costly and potentially tragic incident.
The Link Between Proactive Safety and Operational Performance
We’ve found that some manufacturers have the misconception that improving and investing in safety comes at the expense of productivity. In fact, objective operational metrics usually prove the opposite. An in depth safety review is a direct investment in performance.
We invariably see our customers achieve tangible results such as:
- Greater uptime and reliability: Proactively identifying and fixing wear and tear on safety components prevents future failures and costly, unplanned halts in production.
- Enhanced asset lifespan: Proper maintenance and system checks ensure capital equipment lasts longer, maximising return on investment.
- Improved team performance: A visible commitment to safety sends an important message to your workforce. When operators feel safe and valued, morale is strengthened and they can focus fully on quality and efficiency.
Our Approach: Comprehensive Safety Review Services
Our Approach: Comprehensive Safety Review Services
The process starts with engineering-led diagnostic review. A quick look over an operating system is not enough to ensure compliance or safety. At SST, our approach is a holistic system health check designed to provide a complete picture of your machinery safety.
Our structured process includes services such as:
- PUWER or CE/UKCA compliance audit: We begin by auditing your equipment against all legal requirements to establish a clear compliance baseline.
- Physical and electrical integrity inspection: Our engineers can carry out a thorough inspection of all guards, gates, barriers and safety-related electrical circuits to identify any damage, deterioration, or potential points of failure.
- Control system verification and validation:
This technical assessment and calculation determines the reliability and integrity of your safety related control systems. Following BS EN ISO 13849-2:2012 the validation by analysis and testing of the specified safety functions present on the machinery, the category achieved, and the performance level achieved by the safety-related parts of a control system (SRP/CS) can be determined and if necessary a plan for improvements can be proposed and actioned.
- Dynamic performance testing of safety devices: For machinery protected by light curtains (ESPE) or scanners (AOPD), we conduct stop time testing, measuring the time it takes for a machine’s hazardous motion to cease, providing validation that your safeguards are positioned at a safe distance and are effective in operation.
We understand that meeting your legal obligations under PUWER whilst also ensuring maximum uptime can be tricky. The seasonal shutdown provides the perfect, focused opportunity to get it right for the year ahead.
If you are planning your shutdown and want to ensure your machinery safety is robust, compliant, and contributing to your productivity, our engineers are here to support. Contact us to discuss any upcoming shutdown safety review requirements.