June 2020

29 www.drivesncontrols.com June 2020 ROBOTICS, AUTOMATION AND MACHINE-BUILDING n Getting the right people to the right place at the right time A s we return to a new post-Covid- lockdown normality, manufacturers are facing the question of how to lay out their production areas to ensure efficiency, while enforcing social distancing. One technique that is attracting attention is using track-and- trace technology to control access in the workplace. At the same time, manufacturers are focusing on getting the right people into work in the right place and at the right time to avoid unnecessary risks. Plant layouts can be optimised using activity data of where employees need to be present, while excluding those not authorised to be there. In this way, efficiency can be increased, while ensuring safety. Recommendations posted by the Health & Safety Executive during the lockdown period suggest that employers should consider integrating their systems for machine safety, perimeter entry control, machine isolation and safe intervention. Historically, such systems have been dealt with separately, but an integrated approach can be achieved by adding access control systems to existing infrastructures. Systems based on RFID (radio-frequency identification) cards can help to restrict access to authorised workers, who are in the right places and are doing the correct tasks. For example, it is possible to: n allow entry by authorised persons to designated areas for specific purposes; n ensure safe stopping of machinery before entering a potentially dangerous area; n integrating into existing trapped-key safeguards; and n recording footprints of staff and visitors (using track-and-trace data analysis). Although the HSE advice was originally intended to apply to hazardous areas and the control of ignition sources, there is also advice on the HSE Web site that can be applied when considering general zoning of work areas. This can be found in the Technical Measures Document for Plant Layout under COMAH Guidance publication. With increasing levels of automation, including robots performing collaborative tasks alongside people, and the move towards lights-out factories, we need to start looking at controlling potential hazards using automation instead of relying on the traditional fixed-guarding approach. In recent years, product development efforts at Fortress Interlocks have focused on developing RFID systems to control andmonitor access intomanufacturing areas.This represents a substantial move away from traditional mechanical key interlock systems and allows existing RFID site access cards to be integrated with safety devices to control device functions. The technology can be integrated into PLC networks, while collecting data for automated reporting or notifications on events. Technologies such as these will help manufacturers to get the right people in the right place at the right time. n As factories restart their operations following lockdown, manufacturers are looking for ways to ensure efficient production, while respecting the social distancing rules. Rob Stark, product director at Fortress Interlocks, suggests one approach to achieving this based on RFID. One example of how RFID could be used to ensure that factories are complying with the Covid-19 rules is to use the technology to control and monitor the use of hand sanitising stations. As well as controlling the operation of these stations, the technology could deliver data such as the number of hand sanitising operations performed in a day, the gaps between these operations, and whether individual employees have failed to use the facilities.