INTRODUCTION

Safety is an important part of changeovers. Changing out tooling and components may place an operator or technician in a position where they would not normally go. Keep yourself and your coworkers safe during changeover procedures by following all safety procedures and policies.

You will also need to follow safety procedures during the changeover lab.

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CHANGEOVER SAFETY ON THE JOB

Here are some safety features you might encounter on the job when you need to complete a changeover:

PPE

Depending on your company and what specific changes you are making, you will likely need to wear (or continue wearing) specialized PPE. For environments where you wear clean room or food handling PPE, the environment needs to stay clean, so you will likely need to continue to wear the PPE. Follow your company's policies and procedures.

Trapped Key System (also called Capture Key):

Energy is controlled by using a key. The key can isolate energy and prevent it from being used in the system. When the system is ready for the energy to be released again (that is, a technician or operator has finished their work on it), the key can be used to allow energy into the system again. This system may be used on a variety of energy sources, including electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic systems.

A trapped key system may also be used to restrict which personnel can work on a system.

Cages

Machinery or robots may be stored inside a cage or a wire gate. This is meant to prevent accidents while the machinery is running. When completing a changeover, however, you may need to enter the cage or go inside a cage to change out tooling. In these cases, you will need to be sure that machines in cages are properly turned off and locked-out, tagged-out before beginning the changeover, as you will be working around the usual safety features the machine has.

Other Features

There may be other safety features that you have to navigate around. In these instances, make sure to do the following:

Make sure you have the proper authorization to perform work in an area that is normally locked or difficult to get to.
Make sure that machines are off and all lockout tagout procedures have been followed.