Three new safety requirements have been introduced in recent times to bring the health and safety design regulations of baling and compacting equipment up to date. With some accidents occurring whilst using, or rather misusing baling and compacting equipment, it was deemed necessary to take preventative measures.
The standards were introduced in the spring of 2015 and affect the design of future balers…
What are the EN16500:2014 Standards?
The EN16500:2014 standards are a set of EU standards introduced to protect the users of vertical balers. It is known that the use of such machinery can be dangerous if used improperly and as such, the safe usage is massively encouraged. The standard was introduced by the CEN, the European Committee for Standardization.
The CEN is a voluntary body, designed to develop and improve standards and technical documents in many European industries, for various products, materials, services and processes. In their own words:
“CEN supports standardization activities in relation to a wide range of fields and sectors including: air and space, chemicals, construction, consumer products, defence and security, energy, the environment, food and feed, health and safety, healthcare, ICT, machinery, materials, pressure equipment, services, smart living, transport and packaging.”
Why are they necessary?
The truth is, with big machinery, comes big danger, no matter what the industry. It just happens that the machinery in our industry is purposely designed to crush, squash, compact and bale the maximum amount of materials into the minimum amount of space. To keep technicians safe and perfectly capable of performing their jobs, it is vital that the machinery they work with is equally efficient.
Just EN16500:2014?
The CEN’s decision to address the design of baling and compaction equipment may have arrived partially as the result of several european fatalities, caused when the victims were crushed by the moving compaction plate or compacting part. However, the result of this standardization was not just one new standard, but three. Each one relates to different sizes or types of baling or compacting equipment and ensuring that future designs are safer.
EN 16252:2012: Horizontal baling presses are large machines, mostly used in waste sorting. Generally baling equipment of this size will be fed by a massive conveyor belt, which may handle millions of tonnes of materials per year.
EN 16486:2014: Compactors can be static, transportable, or have traversing systems. The nature of these machines allows them to be installed in industrial or commercial settings, or even in public settings. For the benefit of the public, it is an extra incentive to create safe designs as it is impossible to train everybody.
EN 16500:2014: Vertical Baling Presses, this covers a large portion of our products and generally refers to small machines used in trade and industry. These machines vary in size, power supply and bale ejection method.
How will the designs be different?
The key to standardization was to eliminate the hazard, many of which occurred because of the open access to the baling or compacting chamber, especially during operation. An additional hazard related to the most common fault of compaction equipment, blockages. When a machine became blocked, it would be the responsibility of the operator to unblock it, rather than the onus on the machine to have a self-unblocking mechanism, or a safeguard that would prevent the machine for being operational with a person inside it. Developing the standards meant creating reasons for future compactor and baler developers from creating machines that could harm their user.
In addition, the standards cover the safe design of these features of the baling equipment: bale chamber, bale ejection area, emergency stop systems, noise reduction, instruction manuals and controls actuators and devices.
Who asked for a new standard?
The list is huge, let’s be very honest when we say that it was open knowledge that the misuse of baling and compaction equipment could lead to injury in the workplace. The British HSE, which is the independent regulator for work-related health, safety and illness, were one of the first to begin informing the European OHS of accidents relating to baling presses. Soon followed French H&S bodies and the German Social Accident Insurance Institution, both who were noting the frequency of accidents, and were keen to develop a solutions.
So, from 2007, experts from the UK, France and Germany began meeting and preparing drafts of a European standard for horizontal baling presses, which was then submitted to the CEN. The talents of these experts attracted the attention of further European interest and they grew, to form the CEN/TC 397 “Project Committee – Baling presses – Safety requirements”. This committee consisted of eight nations who met for the first time in September 2009, and was built up of H&S experts, manufacturers, users and public authorities. It is reported that differing levels of health and safety for compacting waste or recyclable materials in each nation caused some very interesting and testing discussions. Ultimately, the three standards were formed, which has proved to be of great benefit to the waste compaction and baling equipment industry.
How does the EN16500 standard for vertical balers affect Kompakt and our customers?
Kompakt have welcomed the standard with open arms, as it is just one further policy that allows us to strive for only the best in our selection of machinery. We only supply machines that we feel will provide an excellent service to our partners, as it benefits all parties in the long run. We want our customers to feel safe and secure using our machines, so the improved safety standards will only improve usage of the machines and ideally increase the amount of materials being recycled. If any further standardizations arise that may continue to develop the machinery, Kompakt will always be a proud supporter!
What about older machines?
Whilst the new standard is applicable for machines manufactured after 2015, older machines are still very safe if used correctly. We still supply older machines, some of which are refurbished units. It is important we clearly state that not every machine available meets with the new EN16500 standards. When installing machines, we always give full training and advise the operators on best practice.
To see our full range of machines, each with a downloadable brochure, follow this link.