Digital supplement to
Technology Handbook
Modular safety gate system: Your gate. Our system. Your safety.
MACHINE SAFETY
With our modular safety gate system you can build an individual
safety gate solution optimally tailored to your application!
Configurable safety controller PNOZmulti 2: Modular and compact solution as flexible as your application
A look into the products, technologies with process guarding in one system shaping the market and solutions Safety gate system PSENslock: Safe position monitoring
• Pushbutton unit PITgatebox with PITreader: Control unit with access permission system
• Safety gate system PSENmlock: Safe interlock and guard-locking in one product with optional escape release
• Firewall Security Bridge: Protection of controllers from network-based attacks and unauthorised access
More information online: http://bit.ly/pilzgatesystem
ilz Automation Safety Canada L.P. - Mississauga, ON - +1 905 821-7459 - www.pilz.ca - info@pilz.ca
PHOTO: NDOELJINDOEL / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
Technology Handbook | MACHINE SAFETY
Compact safety controller offers stand-alone or networked operation for safer machines The EK1960 from Beckhoff is ideal for safety applications that are small to medium in scope. Machine safety systems can be easily expanded using additional TwinSAFE hardware, software, and networking solutions.
I
ncrease scalability and flexibility in machine safety with the EK1960 TwinSAFE safety controller from Beckhoff. The EK1960 includes numerous I/O channels in a compact design and is an ideal solution for safety applications that are small to medium in scope. It can either be used as a stand-alone controller without being connected to another EtherCAT controller or as a networked controller for distributed safety in larger applications. The EK1960 offers a low cost per channel via 20 safe digital inputs (24V DC) and 10 safe digital outputs (8 x 24V DC, 2 x potential-free contacts), 4 optional relay outputs, an EtherCAT Coupler, and TwinSAFE logic all built into one compact device measuring just 230.5 x 58.6 x 100 mm. It is programmed using the TwinCAT Safety Editor similar to other TwinSAFE components and can make up to 32 connections to other TwinSAFE devices providing the flexibility you need for future safety system expansion. Certified function blocks such as ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV, and even more complex ones such as Counter, Limit or Compare are available for the processing of analog signals.
2 MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION · Technology Handbook Machine Safety
The entire TwinSAFE product range includes numerous I/O terminals and blocks in IP20 and IP67 protection ratings for mounting on DIN rail or directly on the machine or on equipment such as robot arms. The IP20 rated EK1960 can be extended to accommodate a variety of safety tasks by networking drive safety components using the Safety over EtherCAT protocol (SoE), which is transmitted via the EtherCAT network. In addition to SoE, the EK1960 also supports TwinSAFE SC technology. The SC (Single Channel) technology enables the use of standard signals for safety tasks in any network of fieldbuses. Beckhoff also offers TwinSAFE Drive Option cards for easily integrating motion safety functions and drive technology with TwinSAFE technology built in. Available functions include safe stop, speed, position, acceleration, rotating direction, and more. For more information: www.beckhoff.com/EK1960 www.beckhoff.com/TwinSAFE
| TS11-04USA |
Integrate automation and safety on one platform: TwinSAFE
PC-based control
TwinSAFE
One control platform for all machine functions
System-integrated with logic in all safety components
www.beckhoff.com/twinsafe As a leader in PC-based control technology, Beckhoff offers complete integration of machine safety via the open and highly flexible TwinSAFE solution. Full integration into a standard automation platform provides a direct safety connection to PLC, standard I/O, motion control, measurement technology, IoT and machine vision. With Beckhoff, machine builders and plant managers can leverage a comprehensive automation portfolio for all hardware and software components for machine safety.
Integrated in all TwinSAFE components: the Safety Logic
Technology Handbook | MACHINE SAFETY
Access permission plus operation mode selection now modular – fusion of safety and security
W
ith PITmode fusion, Pilz now offers a modular operating mode selection and access permission system. The modular system is characterised by more flexibility for functionally safe operating mode selection and for the control of access permissions to plant and machinery. This way, PITmode fusion enables efficient operation mode selection ad access permission management that covers both safety and security specifications. The new PITmode fusion from Pilz consists of the reader unit PITreader with RFID technology and integrated web server and a Safe Evaluation Unit (SEU). Its modular design allows PITmode fusion to be integrated individually into the design of 4 MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION · Technology Handbook Machine Safety
existing control consoles. Existing pushbuttons can be used, enabling better operation for the user. PITmode devices are used on plant and machinery in which you switch between a range of control sequences and operating modes. Find out more and get yours today! CLICK HERE. Canadian Headquarters Pilz Automation Safety Canada L.P. 6695 Millcreek Drive, Unit 8, Mississauga, ON L5N 5R8 Tel: +1 905 821-7459 info@pilz.ca • www.pilz.ca
We make Canada safer. A little bit every day. ™
Safely. Find out more: www.pilz.com/we-automate-safely Pilz Automation Safety Canada L.P. - Mississauga, ON Website: www.pilz.ca Email: info@pilz.ca Phone: +1 905 821-7459
TECHNOLOGY
GET SMARTER ABOUT SAFETY A look at new approaches that can be used to automate safety in manufacturing plants
W
hile automation has been transforming manufacturing plants for decades, automation of safety is now coming into its own. By automating paper-based and manual safety-related processes using a variety of technologies and approaches, workers in plants are much better protected. And, because they save time, these automated approaches also boost plant productivity. Here are the current broad trends in safety automation, along with a glance to new technologies and future outlook, from some leading industry experts. Integration of safety Safety in manufacturing used to be focused on manual “point solutions,” where for example, the safety of each machine is handled separately, explains Pierre Van Neste, global director of sales, plant and personnel safety and risk reduction software at Honeywell Process Solutions. “Individual machines, safety training, personal protective equipment, etc. – handling these things individually is inefficient and involves silos of data that are disconnected, so it’s very difficult to access and analyze the data,” he says. “Now it’s becoming common practice to have most or all aspects of worker safety integrated with overall plant digitization. The growth in understanding of the
power of integrated solutions has been slow across manufacturing, but it’s coming along now.” Chris Morgan and Eric Haapamaki, applications engineers at Sudbury, Ontariobased Ionic Mechatronics, are also seeing increasing uptake of integrated safety solutions. “We’ve been doing presentations about this for over 10 years,” says Haapamaki, “and now, safety analysis and implementation of integrated systems is 25 per cent of our business.” Van Neste says how safety can be integrated with equipment assets, workforce management and site security. Employee badges (employing radio-frequency identification and/or other technologies) help ensure only authorized personnel are on site, but the integrated system also validates that the correct individuals are “safe” to work in a given area of the plant. “If the required certification is not up-to-date for a particular worker, the system will simply not allow entry,” Van Neste says. “Before such a system is put in place, there was either an inefficient paper-based system and/ or siloed computer records where, for example, the dates for which given employees needed to do recertification courses were kept, and hopefully it was all accurate.” It has also been left to workers to do proper lockout before approaching a machine, which has led to solutions to automate the process. “From my observations over the years, proper
6 MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION · Technology Handbook Machine Safety
lockout takes time and it’s very rare that all procedures are followed, such as checking that there is no voltage running to that machine,” Morgan says. “Everyone is relying on the worker to do things correctly, and we know that if procedures take a lot of time, things will get skipped even if there is a safety risk. If you leave a situation to procedure, an accident will happen at some point.” Ionic now offers an automated remote lockout system called SafeBox where a worker or supervisor requests entry into a given area and the system does the lockout, saving time and ensuring better safety. Another way safety is being automated involves virtual reality (VR) technology, explains James Findlay, solution consultant at Rockwell Automation. “We offer several VR systems such as Vuforia with our partner PTC that allow new workers and contract workers to understand plant layout and safety hazards before they arrive onsite,” he explains. “This technology has been used in aerospace industries for years and it’s starting to come into other sectors. Then, when workers are onsite, we can switch to an augmented reality
PHOTO: HONEYWELL PROCESS SOLUTIONS
BY TREENA HEIN
“An automated system can monitor for falls [and] allow workers to alert the system quickly and easily by pressing a panic button,” says Van Neste.
system, where you can have a module, for example, where a worker who’s been there for years can virtually show a new worker in the real environment of the plant how to use a machine and do the overall job in the most safe and productive way.” Contractor safety Integrated systems for contractor management also provide significant safety and efficiency value. “The contractor ahead of time shows that the workers who will arrive have the required certifications and access,” Van Neste says. “The work permit is requested ahead of time, so it’s ready when the workers arrive.” This system also provides a significant bonus, he adds, of being able to track “time on tool.” That is – geo-location is used to verify that the contractor was working at the correct machine, and, at inspection, that the inspector was present. Automated accounting Accounting for all workers at an emergency muster point is another situation where safety is being automated (and greatly enhanced) through integration with a digitized site management system.
Without such a system, a designated person must manually record who is or is not at their designated meeting place. Now, digital badge systems can account for everyone automatically and can immediately locate anyone not present, guide workers to a safe zone, and so on. “It also provides that critical situational awareness for emergency operations,” says Van Neste. “Supervisors not on site can understand what is happening and make the best decisions. Without this, it can be very dangerous, for example, to send someone to try and find a worker who has not reported, and there have been many cases where workers get really frightened and leave the site but don’t tell anyone they’ve gone.” He adds that there should be a cloud-based component to data management because on-site computing power could be affected by the emergency. Technology keeping pace Yet another area of safety automation is the use of IoT and sensors that prevent dangerous situations in the first place. “An example in a paper plant would be speed monitoring on a paper winder,” says Morgan. “Changing the speed has traditionally been done by a worker with a selector switch but with automated speed monitoring on the drive, the winder is automatically slowed or stopped if it’s going too fast.” Morgan and Haapamaki also point to new radar-based sensors now available that are not affected by dust, smoke, fluid spray and other airborne materials the way traditional light/ laser sensors are affected. Haapamaki adds that if a given sensor system produces a lot of false trips, employers will simply rip it out. And different types of worker-focused
sensors are already in use. The badges offered by Honeywell, for example, automatically alert spot-on personnel when a worker hasn’t moved for a given period of time or has fallen. “In today’s world, we have an increasing number of lone worker situations,” adds Van Neste, “and an automated system can monitor for things like falls but also allow workers to alert the system quickly and easily by pressing a panic button.” Tech also already exists, he says, to detect if a worker has donned all the protective equipment required, and developments related to ergonomics are coming (for example, alerting workers when they aren’t lifting an item properly). Biometrics are also already included in some automated workplace safety systems, which can detect if a worker’s heart rate has changed or stopped, for example. “These systems can respond to events such as a heart attack that happens to occur at work,” says Van Neste, “and therefore go beyond work-related safety issues.” Looking forward, Findlay believes artificial intelligence (AI) systems will play a greater role in plant safety. Rockwell is working with PTC to develop AI systems that do predictive modelling, for example, to prevent spills, map out emergency responses and more. In terms of what company leaders should do to start taking safety automation to the next level, Findlay notes that the amount of technology available can make the process feel overwhelming. “Contact a reputable company,” he advises, “one capable of doing a full analysis of your needs and that will create a suitable digital transformation plan.” | MA Treena Hein is an award-winning freelance writer based in Ontario.
Technology Handbook Machine Safety · MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION 7
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
SAFE, SECURE AND SURE
BY SUKANYA RAY GHOSH
A
s automation technologies evolve every day, machine and operational safety becomes even more important. It is not enough to ensure that automation equipment manufacturers are following the proper safety standards. When automated equipment is integrated with existing machinery, the safety risks change. Consequently, the safety requirements change. It is of primary importance for the end-user to understand the latest safety standards and requirements and make sure that it is safe to work with and around the newly installed equipment. Douglas Nix, managing director and principal consultant at Compliance InSight Consulting, says that standards writers in Canada are working hard to harmonize Canadian standards with international standards for
Understanding relevant standards There are quite a few machine standards that cover different types of machinery. So, the first step is to understand which standard is relevant for the newly installed equipment, says Dave Smith, owner and lead trainer at Cobot Safety. “If you’re putting in an injection molding machine, there’s an injection molding standard. If you are operating a robot, there’re standards for that. If you are putting in a press, there’s a press standard,” he explains. Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has three main machinery safety standards for fixed equipment. The CSA Z142 deals with power presses, for example stamping metal and other similar applications. CSA Z434 is the robotics standard. Nix explains that it is the Canadian version of ISO 10218. The CSA Z432 is the fundamental standard used for safeguarding machines. This standard is currently being reviewed for the next edition, which is expected to be out in the first quarter of 2023, says Nix. The new document closely harmonizes with quite a few ISO standards, he adds. The standard provides a general overview of how things should be done. It includes pointers for
8 MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION · Technology Handbook Machine Safety
specific information. Nix shares that the CSA Z434 has not been changed since 2014. However, there have been rapid changes in the robotics industry in recent years. Therefore, he suggests that it is important to look at ISO/TR 15066, a standard that covers collaborative robots. This has been rolled into ISO 10218. Nix explains that CSA has combined Parts 1 and 2 of the ISO 10218 into one document and included Canadian deviations to comply with Canada’s specific OHS requirements. Assessing risks Risk assessment is a crucial step when adding any automation equipment to the factory floor. Smith suggests that it is important to do the risk assessment at the design stage. This helps the end user understand everything that they should be aware of regarding the new equipment. Michael Warren, product manager of safety components and safety controllers at Omron Automation, says that the risk assessment should strictly be based on the currently recognized industry standards to maintain the integrity of the process. Warren shares that a facility today constantly changes based on current business needs. As the automation evolves, so should the safety. Risk assessments should be done continuously. For example, a workcell that is on the output
PHOTO: PITCHAYAARCH/ ADOBE STOCK
Tips on creating safer workspaces in increasingly automated manufacturing facilities.
many years now. The hope, he says, is that one day there will be just one standard to look at.
of a machine changes and becomes the input of another workcell. In this scenario, the new workcell will have new risks and should be looked at as a new installation, explains Warren. So, what happens if manufacturers are not familiar with all the machine safety requirements? They could either send members of their team for safety training or hire safety consultants to ensure that the systems integrators are following all safety requirements and meeting the requisite standards, suggests Smith. Smith shares that he has come across situations in the past where equipment manufactured in Japan did not meet Canadian standards and safety requirements. The Canadian standards had to be shared with the equipment manufacturers to ensure compliance. Such situations could arise with the increasing number of automation technologies being released every day. It is therefore important for the end users to understand the relevant standards for their region, says Smith. Safety consultants like Smith and Nix help facilitate the risk assessment process. For example, if a manufacturer is installing a robot cell, Smith will go in at the design stage and assess all the potential hazards. He will show the team the different parts of the standard that they need to meet. Smith will work with the team to look at each task and each hazard combination to come up with risk reduction measures. He can then offer recommendations on what needs to be done to get the risk levels down to an acceptable level. Smith says that he doesn’t do risk assessments unless the end user gets a pre start health and safety review, which is a requirement in Ontario. He adds that end users often request his help to go through the documentation after the review is complete to ensure that nothing important has been missed out. Nix follows a slightly different process. The first thing he likes to do is assess the team members of the equipment end user to understand their backgrounds. He says that as an external consultant, he likes to know who the resources are and determine
Machine safety standards CSA Z142: Code for Punch Press and Brake Press Operation: Health, Safety and Guarding Requirements CSA Z432: Safety of Machinery (new edition due out in Q1-2023) CSA Z434: Industrial robots and robot systems (ISO 10218-1:2011, MOD / ISO 10218-2:2011, MOD) ISO12100: Safety of machinery – General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction ISO 10218-1: Robots for Industrial Environment – Safety Requirements – Part 1: Robot ISO 10218-2: Robots and robotic devices – Safety requirements for industrial robots – Part 2: Robot systems and integration ISO/TR 15066: Robots and robotic devices – Collaborative robots
the best way to inform them. Then he begins the risk assessment. Instead of working with every person in the company, he prefers doing the assessment with a small group of knowledgeable people. Nix helps this group understand what to do once the documents are ready. “We go through the document to see what needs to be done. Do they need to improve the guarding in some places or do they need to work on the functional safety aspects of the machine? Is there something else that we have discovered in the process that they need to deal with immediately?” explains Nix. He adds that around 80 percent of risk assessment documents that he has come across are not up to the mark. “If it’s done right, risk assessment is painstaking and time-consuming. Once it is done, it is a very useful document if you choose to use it. It is very important to do the job properly at the very beginning and then actually use the document,” he says.
Safety knowledge in-house Just leveraging safety consultants and experts to ensure machine safety is not enough today. Safety experts recommend training employees to ensure that knowledge of safety standards and requirements exists in-house. “If you have the facility, you have automation and you have safety assessments without training, you have the possibility of injuries. You should train employees up front on safety and write a safety doctrine for machine operators. This helps them be aware of the risks that might not be obvious to the operators,” says Warren. Warren recommends training the team on safety every quarter. He explains that with the turnover of employees, it is essential that all new people have the requisite knowledge. He adds that the training should evolve with every new equipment addition or change in the facility It is critical to invest in training employees on all industry safety standards, according to Nix. This allows the team to tailor safety guidelines to the needs of the facility. Nix explains that every company’s operations have nuances that only the internal team would be aware of. In-house safety experts can help external safety consultants understand those nuances and do the risk assessments accordingly. Smith similarly emphasizes the importance of training in-house team members. He recalls how some years ago Honda had installed a robot. However, the team did not have the requisite safety knowledge. So, they brought Smith in to work on the safety and risk assessments. Simultaneously, they had him train internal team members. As a consequence, they did not have to blindly rely on robot manufacturers or integrators for safety requirements. “If you don’t know anything about the standards or the way things should be done, there could be people that take shortcuts to save a little bit of money. However, in the end, you come up short because you never really understood the system yourself. If you invest in your people, you will have to rely less on outside resources down the road,” says Smith. | MA
Technology Handbook Machine Safety · MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION 9
SPOTLIGHT
R15.08: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE AMR SAFETY STANDARD
I
ndustrial mobile robots are making things easier to move in the manufacturing and logistics spaces – and they’re doing it quickly. ARC Advisory Group says that autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in particular are one of the fastest-growing markets it has ever researched. That’s why for the past several years, the Association for Advancing Automation’s Robotics Standards Development Committee has been working on an ANSI standard for mobile robot safety. Manufacturing AUTOMATION spoke to Melonee Wise, vice-president of robotics automation at Zebra Technologies and former CEO of Fetch Robotics.
Melonee Wise, vice-president of robotics automation at Zebra Technologies
Fetch Robotics, acquired by Zebra Technologies in August 2021, manufactures collaborative autonomous mobile robots for warehousing and logistics. Wise, who sat on A3’s standards committee for R15.08, talked about the key features of the new standard, what it
“The standard puts a burden on the [AMR] manufacturer to prove, verify and validate that their machinery is safe. It also levels the playing field.” means for autonomous mobile robot manufacturers, and what it means for end users.
What are some of the applications that are most suitable for AMRs? I think when you look at autonomous mobile robots, it’s really about workflows in the environment that are repeatable kind of material movement tasks, but may need some flexibility. A great example of this when you look in the manufacturing use cases is on-demand or in-time delivery to workstations. You can have a whole bunch of assembly cells where people are doing assembly tasks. And the material that they are assembling with is running down as they’re assembling these parts. But the rate at which those parts are running down by the assembly is really based on how fast each person does their assembly. So, you can set up a dynamic call button where a person just presses a button or scans a barcode at their desk to say what parts they need. And a robot can go pick up a cart and bring a cart directly to their desk with the materials that they need.
When it comes to safety, what features are usually already built into an AMR? A lot of the safety systems on these robots are sensor-centric. So, they have
10 MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION · Technology Handbook Machine Safety
lasers or LiDAR, or 3D cameras or other types of sensing that allows them tp immediately sense and then react to maybe a person that gets too close to the AMR. A lot of the safety systems that you see on these vehicles happen at a very low level.
Are there misconceptions among workers about the safety of these vehicles? One of the things that we’re seeing is that many workers are almost too trusting and too casual around the robots. One of the things that we see sometimes is people are looking at their cell phones while walking around a facility and they might actually step into a robot because they have so much trust in the technology, which is kind of interesting.
Was there a particular incident or something that had been happening that led to the creation of the new safety standard? There wasn’t a particular incident that led to the creation of the standard. The poll was from the customer community, who were saying, “Look, I really like this technology. I want to deploy it. But one of the challenges I have is without a safety standard, it’s very hard for me to say as an implementer, or as a company that has deployed this technology that I’ve done everything right to ensure worker
safety.” The standard puts a burden on the manufacturer to prove, verify and validate that their machinery is safe. It also gives the customer or the end user a way of saying “I have bought something that they say is safe, and I have followed all the procedures in my facility to make it safe,” which is important from a liability standpoint.
PHOTO: CHESKY/ ADOBE STOCK
What does the safety standard mean for the AMR industry? It somewhat levels the playing field from an overall deployment and product capability standpoint. There were entrants in the market who were being fast and loose with safety. When you’re fast and loose with safety, you can move faster and do things that you know you really shouldn’t be doing. Now it levels the playing field. You can build your product, but you have to make sure it’s safe. And that was one of the things that
we were running into. Some customers would say, “Company Z can do this thing.” Fetch had to say, “Whether or not company Z is doing that thing, based on what we consider safe practices, and what we know will be considered a safe practice, we’re not willing to do that.” Now Fetch has a document that we can point out that says the standard says that’s not a safe practice. Now, we don’t suffer from that disadvantage.
Please walk us through some of the key parts of the R15.08 standard. How does it protect workers? Right now, for R15.08, we’ve released part one. There’s two more parts after that. The first one is basically guidelines for manufacturing and ensuring that the device meets a performance level or a safety level. This part puts a requirement on manufacturers to provide a whole bunch of documentation for the
end user. And that’s the worker in many cases as well. We have to provide training material information. We have to provide information for how to safely use the robot and how to mark out areas in the facility to alert workers that it’s operating in their environment. It also gives guidelines for what kind of lighting or signage we have to use. Safety standards are built up from general to specific. The R15.08 standard is a C-type standard, which is a very specific standard. But, it draws from a very general standard that says things like you have to use symbology in addition to the written word for communicating what could happen. Although part one is really for the manufacturer, it creates requirements for the manufacturer for educating, informing and training the user of the robot for how to behave safely with it. | MA Melonee Wise was CEO of Fetch Robotics at the time of this interview.
Technology Handbook Machine Safety · MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION 11
Canada’s #1 Resource for Industrial Automation Leaders & Decision Makers
SUBSCRIBE NOW
automationmag.com