New Conveyor Safety Standards Are Here!

As of August 2015, AS 1755 has been superseded by a new set of conveyor safety standards. For those who aren’t familiar with AS 1755, this is why it's a big deal:

• AS 1755 has been the Australian standard for conveyor safety since 1986
• It is the code of practice for conveyor safety in South Australia and referenced as guidance for conveyor safety in every other state and territory’s code of practice
• Conveyors are one of the most prevalent types of machinery in Australian industry and a significant cause of work safety incidents 

So why are we changing the standard? 
The main issue with AS 1755, is there are many different types of conveyors used in many different industries and it’s difficult for one standard to effectively cover all of this. For example, a low torque conveyor of 5m length placed in a manufacturing plant which has high exposure to human operators has vastly different safety requirements then a conveyor that transports tons of material over 500m and has very infrequent exposure to human operators.

To deal with these different conveyor options we now have 4 new standards to replace AS 1755:

1. AS/NZS 4024.3610 - Conveyors - General requirements
2. AS/NZS 4024.3611 - Conveyors - Belt conveyors for bulk material handling
3. AS/NZS 4024.3612 - Conveyors - Chain conveyors and unit handling conveyors
4. AS/NZS 4024.3614 - Conveyors - Mobile and transportable conveyors

The general requirements for conveyor safety can be found in 3610 and additional requirements can be referenced in 3611, 3612 and 3614 for specific conveyor types. This should allow the series of standards to better cover the safety aspects of common conveyor applications in Australia and New Zealand.

The standards are now placed in the 3000 series of the AS 4024 family. This makes more sense rather than having the conveyor standard being separate to the AS 4024 collection of safety standards. The 3000 series consists of machine specific standards and now covers the following types of machines:

• Presses: Mechanical (AS 4024.3001), Hydraulic (AS 4024.3002)
• Milling machines (AS 4024.3101)
• Robotic cells (AS 4024.3301)
• Conveyors (AS 4024.3610 - AS 4024.3614)

If you have any machines covered by a 3000 series standard this will provide the best guidance for safety requirements.

• Express interest in a Safety Standards Workshop