Paper Cutter Safety Is No Accident
By: Bruce Peterson, President, Colter & Peterson
Cutting paper may seem routine but when it comes to ensuring that proper safety standards are in place for guillotine paper cutting operations, safety is anything but a routine matter. Make no mistake: Cutting paper presents serious hazards for operators.
Europe took the lead on this issue in 1995 when they eliminated variations in safety standards and enacted safety measures for all new paper cutters sold into the European marketplace. Since that time, paper cutters throughout the industry have been modified to comply with new safety standards. The following is an overview of some of these key areas:
Clamps are major culprits
Clamps have been responsible for most of the accidents on paper cutters and it’s easy to see why. Operators regularly get their fingers caught while working in close proximity to the clamp when lowering it by using a foot pedal to see where the cut will be placed. New safety standards reduce both the pressure and the speed of the clamp when using a foot pedal. An effective cut line clamp system to show where the knife is going to cut without lowering the clamp will reduce the need for using the foot pedal and can also save time. Push-outs or “ream rejects” in the cutting program can save operators from having to place their fingers under the clamps to push paper forward.
The action of cutting has always been a safety concern. It’s important that the cut only takes place when intended and that if someone gets in the way, the knife or clamp will not hurt them. Current regulations require a two-hand start and hold system with anti-tie down circuit to be used. This means that both hands must be used together within ½ second to initiate the cut. Both hands must remain on the buttons or switches until the knife has completed its downward travel. This minimizes the possibility of an operator having a hand in the work area when a machine cycle is started. If one or both switches are tied down, the control will not allow a new machine cycle to begin.
Seeing the light
New requirements require a light guard (Electro Sensitive Protective Device) to be fitted onto the front of the paper cutter to an exacting specification. With infrared technology now the norm, this technology has the advantage of being encoded so the paper cutters’ guarding system will not see any other light source. Early types of light guards used on larger cutters may not have been positioned to ‘see’ the operator’s limb and the guard simply did not prevent the cut/clamp action even when it did see an obstruction. This was fixed by determining a minimum distance for the light guard beams to be located from each other, thus detecting a finger rather than a wrist.
The minimum distance from the beams to the knife and also to the surface of the table has also been fixed. The factors are variable depending on the total stopping time of the machine. This is the length of time it takes for the guard to detect an obstruction, the electronics and relays in the cutter to respond and the clutch/brake or hydraulics to stop the knife. The longer the total stopping time, the farther away from the cutting stick the light guards will be.
Backing up
Today’s safety standards require the electrical system of a paper cutter to have enough back up (redundancy) to ensure that safety will be maintained even if some critical part fails at the wrong time. For example, where only one relay may have been used, if it failed the knife would not stop. Now, at least two relays must be used. If either fails, automatic testing will reveal a fault and lock the machine out. The other relay will still prevent an accident. Safety bolts or latches are required to be fitted to back up the clutch/brake (or hydraulic ram) to prevent the knife from making an unintended cycle.
‘Finger proofing’
New regulations require that most moving items be covered so as to be finger proof and prevent reach in accidents. The rear of the table will have covers to prevent a hand being trapped between the clamp and either the table surface or the backgauge. The opening in the center of the table for driving the backgauge will have slot closing tape to cover trapping points at each end. Fixed covers may be fitted to prevent the operator’s fingers from being caught in the openings between grids on the rear of the clamp and backgauge. The light guard or backgauge speed may also be used to prevent this.
Constant commitment
Guillotine paper cutting safety has come a long way. New cutters are manufactured with built-in safety precautions which make them safer than they’ve been in the past. Make sure that every new cutter installation in your facility conforms to the latest industry standards. While projects come and go, safety remains a constant commitment.
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Bruce Peterson is President of Colter & Peterson, the largest independent distributor of paper cutters and paper handling equipment in North America. Employing more than 75 people in four locations, Colter & Peterson specializes in every facet of paper cutter and perfect binding acquisition and ownership, including maintenance and repair, machine sales, safety and productivity upgrades, surplus machines and more. Contact Bruce at (800) 932-0780 x206 or bruce@colterpeterson.com.
