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SAFETY EQUIPMENT With health and safety in mind Brigade Electronics has unveiled a new safety system for refuse collection vehicles. Liz Gyekye takes an exclusive look at the innovation. lthough the number of injuries to workers has fallen over the last five years, waste and recycling remains one of Britain's higher risk industries with ten people killed in 2012/13, double the lives lost in the previous year, according to the Health and Safety Executive. With this concern in mind, Brigade Electronics has set out to develop an intelligent camera monitor system, which it claims offers the operator increased protection and reliability while also maintaining affordability. The system essentially provides the driver with a comprehensive view around the vehicle. The vehicle safety systems specialist says that the daily working round for drivers of refuse trucks is fraught with difficult manoeuvres in snug residen- tial streets with car mirrors literally inches either side of the vehicle. Added to the mixture is the usual chaos of the morning rush hour and the school run. Driving such a huge machine in these circumstances requires particular skill. However, Brigade says that its new SafeEye 360 system can help solve these problems. According to Brigade, multiple camera systems providing spilt screen images on a monitor have been available for some years but Brigade's range of SafeEye 360 systems provides a bird's eye view in a single image making it easier for the driver to manoeuvre safely. In a state- ment, the firm says: "Its affordable price and simple set up make it well suited where budgets are tight such as local authorities." Another issue for drivers of refuse collection vehicles is watching out for cyclists and trying to make their vehi- cles safe for them and the cyclist. This has come to the forefront of people's minds recently, as a spate of cyclist deaths in the capital focused attention on road safety issues. According to the HSE, workplace transport accidents are one of the most common causes of fatal- ities in the waste management industry. Being struck by moving vehicles in the waste management industry accounts for around 140 reportable accidents to HSE every year. Brigade says that its innovation uses four ultra-wide cameras mounted on the front, sides and rear of the vehicle to cap- ture all blind spots. Simultaneous digital images from these cameras are then processed and 'video stitched' resulting in surround view within a single image delivering a clear, real time picture on the driver's monitor. As well as its SafeEye 360 initia- tive, Brigade has also launched its new SafeEye 360 Elite kit. The firm says that it is an ideal safety system for larger fleets, vehicles with standard require- ments such as those with box bodies and road-going trucks. According to Brigade, SafeEye360 Elite offers a higher range of features, ideal for complex vehicles and machinery as used in waste, mining, plant and fire applica- tions. In particular customised picture blends can be set during the calibration to provide a seamless image optimised for individual vehicles, minimising the impact on critical areas at all heights. In addition to this, Brigade says that its SafeEye 360 Elite's self-monitoring system automatically switches off a camera image in the event of a malfunc- tion, "guaranteeing there are no frozen frames and encouraging the operator to seek further diagnostics." 22 Local Authority Waste & Recycling February 2014 A • Carrying out a route risk assessment to highlights major hazards on the route(s) and indicate how they may be avoided or the risks minimised, for example, arranging collections to avoid certain times of the day in sensitive areas (eg. start, finish and lunch times for schools); • Identify those areas where it is reasonably practicable to carry out single-sided street collection in order to minimise the risks of refuse collectors crossing the road; • Safe reversing and use of reversing assistants. The risks associated with reversing vehicles can be reduced by: o eliminating or reducing reversing manoeuvres wherever possible; o devising and following safe systems of work; o using reversing aids such as mirrors, CCTV, detectors and alarms; o using trained reversing assistants only when the risks cannot be adequately controlled by the above; and o monitoring work activities from time to time to ensure that the agreed system of work is being implemented. Advice from HSE on safe operation of refuse collection vehicles in a pedestrian environment: SAFETY EQUIPMENT Ensuring your MRF complies with the Machinery Directive Paul Laidler gives an overview of the Machinery Directive and what machinery operators should be aware of. ll new machinery in scope of the Machinery Directive has to be designed and constructed to meet common minimum European requirements for safety. The outward signs of compliance are CE marking on the equipment and a Declaration of Conformity, which is normally issued by the manufacturer. The current Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) came into full effect four years ago, with an extended scope which now goes beyond what might once have be considered a 'machine', to include lifting accessories and chains, ropes and webbing and an indicative list of safety components. The designer must also take into consideration the full lifecycle of the machine. It is therefore vital for purchasers of Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) machinery to be aware of the legal requirements with which their suppliers must comply to ensure that the correct design and certification processes have been followed. Also, design engineers creating a production line by linking two or more machines must consider the Directive's requirements for complex assemblies. Even if each individual machine complies with the Machinery Directive, it is the assembly that is now considered to be the machine and must itself comply. Similarly, if modifications are carried out that alter the performance or function of a machine or complex assembly, this is also considered to be creating a new machine, which once again must be shown to comply with the Directive. The Directive's Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSRs) cover aspects such as guarding and other safety features that must be built into a machine before it can carry the CE marking to show that it conforms to EU requirements. While previous incarnations of the Directive referred only to 'safety components', the latest edition gives an indicative list of what those safety components are, one of which is guarding. One key requirement is that all fixed guards must be removable only with the aid of tools, that guards should be incapable of remaining in position when their fixings have been removed, and that their fixings need to remain attached to the guard when it is removed from the machine. This means that ordinary machine screws and bolts can no longer be used as a means of attaching guards, unless provision is made for the screws or bolts to be held captive when the guard is removed. The Essential Health Safety Requirements also deal in some detail with operator controls, for example requiring that manual controls are designed to prevent hazardous conditions arising. It also states that manual controls must be clearly visible and identifiable and that the use of pictograms is recommended. Some machine engineers may well take this as a cue for moving to the use of computerised human machine interfaces (HMI) devices, where high visibility is easy to achieve and virtually any type of pictogram, or combination of pictograms and words, can be implemented. The Directive also covers the positioning of machinery control stations. These must be sited so that the operator can see that there are no persons in the danger zone and measures must be taken to ensure that the machine can only be controlled from predetermined locations. Also, each control station must be provided with a full set of control devices, which is possibly another argument in favour of using computerised HMI devices rather than conventional pushbuttons, switches and indicator lights. The right instructions All machines must now be accompanied by instructions in an official European Community language. If these instructions are supplied in the language in which they were originally written, they must be marked 'Original Instructions'. If, however, they are a translation, they must be marked 'Translation of Original Instructions' and they must be accompanied by a copy of the instructions in their original language. Clearly the Machinery Directive's requirements are sometimes complex and those responsible for the safety of MRF machinery must therefore familiarise themselves with the full text as the penalties for getting it wrong can be severe. A February 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 23 Paul Laidler is business director for machinery safety at TÜV SÜD Product Service, a global product testing and certification organisation.

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