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Happy birthday, dear Safetech

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Our client Safetech introduced two new products designed to prevent accidents associated with conveyors and hazardous machinery like baling presses and shredders. The trade press are normally reluctant to print editorial items where they feel that the information should be given in paid-for advertising. But the fact that the company was celebrating its 21st birthday was enough to get coverage in magazines serving the recycling industry.

This is the text of our press release:


Safetech, the company that specialises in personnel protection for conveyor systems and other hazardous machinery, is celebrating its 21st birthday with two innovative products.

Sentinel is an improved version of the personnel protection system developed and refined by Safetech for the recycling industry. Anyone wearing a detector belt is automatically safeguarded as the conveyor and shredder or baling press will stop before the worker reaches the hazard zone.

Centurion is a new and versatile concept in protection systems, capable of working in the most demanding environments and suitable for conveyors and many other industrial applications. It offers a package of options that can be configured in various ways to suit the installation. This includes a sophisticated monitoring and checking facility, the possibility of protecting several conveyors from one central control unit, and the ability to work successfully in locations with high levels of electrical noise and interference.

The new Safetech products not only improve reliability - they add many more options to the original Safetech concept. For example, Centurion offers the choice of creating an Amber Zone. If a worker enters this zone, an alarm will sound, but the machinery won't stop immediately. But if the worker passes into the Red Zone, the emergency stop will activate as usual. The Amber Zone facility gives the opportunity to warn workers that they are approaching the hazardous area without immediately halting the work flow.

“When we first developed the original Safetech device, we knew we had a winning product”, says Managing Director, Robert Smith. “To prevent accidents on conveyors and other hazardous machinery, we found a way to make a reliable system that could distinguish human beings from material. If anyone comes into the danger zone, Safetech switches off the machinery and prevents injury or death. This is effective even if the worker is unconscious, trapped or buried in material.”

It's a very simple proposition and easily explains why today, Safetech is protecting lives on hundreds of sites across Europe and North America. The installations are rugged and reliable and Safetech's earliest systems are still going strong after over twenty years of successful operation.

“But we can't pretend it's always been easy”, Robert admits. “We've put Safetech into some very hostile environments, with extremes of temperature and humidity, and often with high levels of background interference. Although you can create a virtual simulation of these conditions in the lab and workshop, what really counts is practical experience gained in the field.”

“We now know just how demanding some locations can be and we've refined and extended Safetech to become the sophisticated choice of systems currently available. Without those years of experience, we wouldn't be where we are today, from basic knowledge like realising that a pager-style device clipped into a pocket is unlikely to survive in a tough industrial environment, to finding ways of creating effective detection without interfering with wireless networks and communications.”

Safetech don't allow customers to install systems themselves and recommend an annual inspection. When asked why, Robert says, “The answer's quite straightforward - if lives depend on a system, isn't that important enough to require installation by experienced technicians and regular checking by experts? We think so.”

No doubt workers in the recycling industry would agree with him!

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