Portland Cement Association's Occupational Health and Safety Committee looks for examples of how the cement industry is making its plants safer places to work. The goals of the Safety Innovation Awards are:

1. To honor innovative practices, programs, and projects throughout the industry.

2. To communicate these ideas to members of the North American cement industry.

3. To raise the profile and importance of safety programs both inside and outside the industry.

Sixth-eight entries were judged by members of the committee, and winners in four categories — Quarry, Milling/Grinding, Pyroprocessing, and General Facility — received a monetary gift towards a “Celebration for Safety.” These awards are co-sponsored by the Portland Cement Association and the Cement Association of Canada. All entries for the contest since 1997 are available online at www.cement.org

Co-Sponsors:

Portland Cement Association

Cement Association of Canada
Association Canadienne du Ciment

MILLING/GRINDING

BUZZI UNICEM USA INC.
STOCKERTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

This facility has three ball mills to grind petroleum coke into fuel for the preheater and precalciner kiln systems. The mills are 6-ft 6-in. in diameter with two ball chambers 15-ft 9-in. long. The goal was to reduce noise generated by the grinding process. The mills were wrapped with a 2-in.-thick, removable, modular-designed sound blanket cover. The covering was designed to preserve direct access to the liner bolts and manholes. Noise levels were reduced by 8 dBA on average. A secondary result of the cover was to insulate the mills, which raised the temperature and improved drying of the ground coke. There have been fewer problems with mill chokes caused by insufficient heat for drying the pet coke. The installation on each mill took about eight hours, since the panels were pre-made off site. No kiln production time was lost during installation.

QUARRY

ILLINOIS CEMENT COMPANY
LASALLE, ILLINOIS

This facility installed a severe weather storm shelter at its quarry. Previously, employees at the operation were not near secure shelter, since the quarry is located approximately six miles from the main plant, and the area around the quarry is very open and isolated. In the event of a severe storm, the only immediately accessible shelter had been a break trailer. The new shelter is a portable unit installed below ground, and has the capacity to hold 20 employees.

MILLING/GRINDING

ALAMO CEMENT COMPANY
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

This facility developed a self-closing swing gate to help prevent falls at ladder access locations along elevated walkways. The swing gate offers full-torso fall protection so that, in the event of a fall, miners will not flip over or fall under the gate. The gate also allows easy pass through access as it can be pushed open “hands free.” Finally, it has a self-closing mechanism, so employees do not have to remember to close a gate or hook a chain for the next person. Five gates are installed each week with completion scheduled within nine months, thus meeting the facility's goal for injury prevention and standard compliance.

MILLING/GRINDING

ASH GROVE CEMENT COMPANY
INKOM, IDAHO

This plant has identified and color-coded acceptable anchorage points for attachment of personal fall arrest equipment. The anchorage points are capable of supporting at least 5,000 lbs per employee attachment, and are independent of any other anchorage points used for equipment or for supporting or suspending platforms. The personal fall arrest anchorage points have been painted “safety” yellow for easy identification. The color-coding not only identifies the correct anchorage points, but also makes it easier for individuals to identify what they are not to use for equipment anchorage points. The only obstacle was scheduling time to clean off each anchorage point in order to complete the painting project.

MILLING/GRINDING

GCC OF AMERICA, INC.
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

This plant has a Loesche grinding mill in the raw department. Maintenance department personnel use a 25-ton bridge crane to replace the grinding wear elements and other parts in and around the mill. All parts replaced must be removed from the building on the north side of the mill, due to limited workspace. When replacing parts on the south side of the mill, the parts being replaced must be lifted above the mill (approximately 50-ft high) to get to the north side for removal. The existing pendant control for the 25-ton crane required workers to move the parts in stages, and then re-position the control cable in between each phase.

In 2004, a larger classifier was installed on the mill, which required an employee to crawl over the top of the mill to move the hoist control from one side of the mill to the other. To provide a safer method for performing this task, the maintenance team conducted research and came up with a radio controller for the crane. With the radio control installed on the 25-ton crane, the team is able to maneuver the crane from a safe distance without having to climb over the mill. The pendant control is available for emergency use only.

The cost was minimal with an immediate payback in time and safety. The remote works so well and is so reliable that the team has been installing remotes in other locations throughout the plant.

PYROPROCESSING

BUZZI UNICEM USA INC.
GREENCASTLE, INDIANA

The facility maintenance department designed and built safety panels that can be attached easily to existing hand rails to provide additional fall protection in work areas. The panels stand against the hand railing and have a clip on the backside. A bolt is slipped through the clip and tightens the panel in place. The panels are used on the conditioning tower where employees occasionally work on an elevated platform inside the hand railings. This system is quite helpful because it is light and easy to move and set up at various locations. The design is economical because four panels can be made from one sheet of expanded metal.

GENERAL FACILITY

GCC OF AMERICA, INC./
RIO GRANDE PORTLAND CEMENT
TIJERAS, NEW MEXICO

This facility devised a safer way to inspect bucket elevators using a temporary, portable, variable-speed drive with electrical connections that allows quick, safe, and repeatable activity. By using the new device, inspection personnel can slow the drive speed to control unwanted lateral chain movement, reduce stresses on equipment from starting and stopping, eliminate missed chain sections by over-run from jogging, and reduce unwanted dust in the area. The inspection speed control is placed where the operator is in full view of the chain and buckets, and the ability to lockout the equipment power for repairs remains intact. Seven days were required to complete the connections on nine elevators for the portable variable speed drive to the local lockout switches that are normally used during inspections.

PYROPROCESSING

ASH GROVE CEMENT COMPANY
MONTANA CITY PLANT
CLANCY, MONTANA

During refractory replacement operations, which are required for scheduled kiln shutdowns and emergency brick repairs, pallets of refractory brick must be lifted up to the elevated “burner floor” for staging prior to the placement of the brick in the kiln. The refractory is lifted about 30 feet on pallets with an extended-reach forklift through an opened roll-up door on the burner floor. In order to provide signaling to the forklift operator and to help position the pallets, employees must stand near the elevated roll-up door opening. Previously, a safety chain was strung across the elevated door opening, but the chain provided minimum fall protection and no fall restraint. Fall protection equipment (harnesses and lanyards) also were used, but proved problematic as employees were constantly having to hook and un-hook lanyards to get the necessary mobility. Retractable lanyards proved cumbersome as well.

The idea of the swing gate was proposed by the Production Department and developed by the Maintenance Department. The gate swings inward to allow pallets of refractory to be placed on the burner floor by the extended reach forklift. The refractory pallets push against the gate and allow the placement of the pallet. The swing gate, along with the refractory pallet itself, provides excellent fall restraint for employees.

GENERAL FACILITY

ASH GROVE CEMENT COMPANY
DURKEE, OREGON

This facility designed a device to reduce strain on employees' backs and shoulders while using the hi-vacuum truck hose. The device attaches to the end of the heavy hi-vac hose. It has wheels and a handle that allow easy movement and access underneath low areas. The handle is wrapped with a rubber type of tape to reduce any static shock.