.RECOMMENDATION OF SITE FOR CAR ASSEMBLY PLANT BASED ON A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES OF TWO SITES.
By Kelvin Vine (September 2005)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
STRUCTURAL SAFETY
FIRE SAFETY
PLANT SAFETY
MATERIALS SAFETY
ACCESS AND EGRESS:
WORKPLACE REGULATIONS
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFFERENCES
By Kelvin Vine
Sept 2005
This report analyses 2 proposed sites for a car assembly plant from a Health and Safety perspective. One site is a disused factory which will be refurbished to accommodate the new plant and the other is a “green field” site where a new plant will have to be constructed. The pros and cons of each site with respect to health and safety are evaluated and from this it is recommended that the “green field” site be chosen on the grounds that the cost of building a new plant incorporating relevant health and safety measures is outweighed by the cost incurred in renovating the disused site.
The consideration of safety is of critical importance in the design phase of any assembly plant. In this phase, hazards can be eliminated or reduced to a minimum in the most cost-effective way. This is because it is much cheaper to design out a hazard than to try to reduce it later.
The purpose of this report is to critically evaluate two proposed sites for a car assembly plant from a Health and Safety perspective and to recommend one of these sites.
In order to make a recommendation, safety issues associated with the establishment of a new car assembly plant need to be identified, evaluated and the benefits and drawbacks of each site analysed. These issues are the structural safety of the building, fire safety, materials safety, access to and egress from the plant and workplace regulations.
The safety of the structure which contains the assembly plant is a critical consideration from the point of view of the safety of the plant. This is because the structure of the plant should from the outset incorporate safety considerations such as the stability of buildings, load bearing capacity of walls and beams that must support heavy equipment and power transmission systems. If this is not done, then reinforcing the structure to deal with safety issues after it is constructed can prove to be very expensive.
In determining whether a disused building can be renovated to accommodate modern safety systems, the cost of incorporation into an existing building must be weighed against building a new structure.
Modern car assembly is done on a very large scale with assembly lines churning out complete cars at the rate of one every 60 seconds. The assembly process is highly mechanised and automated (New United Motor Manufacturing inc. website, 2005). As a consequence, the structure of the building and the floor in particular, must be made to withstand the massive load of a moving production line that stretches up to 2 kilometres. Many automotive components will need to be carried overhead from various points on the production line to its assembly point. These include heavy items such as complete engine/transmission units and whole car bodies. The roof, as well as any supporting beams and rafters, must be able to bear these loads plus the weight of the lifting equipment safely. To illustrate, Figure 1 was taken at the BMW Dingolfing Assembly plant (autointell-news.com). Note the large size and weight of machinery required for car assembly and the reliance on overhead cranes.
Figure 1- BMW assembly plant (AutoIntel News website, 2005)
In order to determine the suitability of the disused factory for the assembly plant, the first point to consider is if the factory provides sufficient space for the assembly line. Once it has been determined that the space is sufficient, then the original plans for the factory must be inspected to determine if the design capacity for the walls and floors meet the requirements for the new assembly line. Additional margin must also be required to minimise the risk of structural collapse.
When these inspections of plans are being carried out, consideration must be given to the fact that due to its age, the structure may have deteriorated and may not be able to achieve its designed specifications. Deterioration may be caused by corrosion of steel reinforcement, damage to concrete and steel members due to water and acid rain among others. It must be remembered that some of this deterioration may be internal or underground and may not be readily apparent until structural failure occurs.
It is likely that a disused factory will not be constructed to a standard require to bear the loads which a new assembly like would impose. For example, a typical floor under a press would need to be around 1 metre of reinforced concrete to support a typical press weighing 45,000 kilogram (New United Motor Manufacturing inc. website, 2005). In this case, extensive re-modelling and modifications will be required, at considerable expense. It would be more feasible in this case to either consider the complete demolition of the existing structure, which itself would involve significant cost, or rule out the use of this location for the assembly plant. Figure 2 illustrates the massive weights that the assembly line must bear, owing to the large number of whole cars suspended.
Figure 2 – Assembly line (http://firstnews.com.ua)
In addition to the safety of the structure another important consideration is fire safety. This is because like structural safety, fire safety must be built into the plant when it is constructed in order to be most cost effective.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (Emergency Exit Routes, OSHA fact sheet), exit routes must be designed to minimise the time required for evacuation of the assembly plant in case of a major fire of other catastrophe. These exit routes must be separate from the normal entrances and exits used on a daily basis and be of the correct width and height to accommodate the maximum permitted occupant load of each floor, the size of the building and the arrangement of the workplace. The escape routes must be composed of materials that offer fire protection. These routes must lead to an exterior space large enough to accommodate all occupants of the building.
Current fire safety laws in Trinidad and Tobago are outdated and it is likely that the disused factory has outdated provisions for fire safety. Although current legislation does not contain up to date fire safety rules, it is a requirement of legislation currently awaiting proclamation. In any case, a company making such a considerable investment in an assembly plant would want to incorporate the best fire safety to save itself from loss in case of fire.
It is unlikely that the disused factory being considered was constructed to accommodate the numbers of people required to run a modern car assembly plant. In this regard, provisions for fire exits may not be able to accommodate the number of people, or have the necessary fire protection that is required. Hence additional demolition and reconstruction will be required.
Consideration of plant safety in the design phase of the assembly plant can contribute to making the plant safer during operation. Plant safety encompasses safety of electrical or mechanical power use and transmission, use and maintenance of machines, suitability of layout for machines and suitability of layout for delivery of raw materials and finished products.
Most of the machines in a vehicle assembly plant are powered by electricity creating a requirement for a large amount of electrical energy. The supply will have to be properly guarded to prevent personnel inadvertently coming into contact with live conductors. This involves construction of enclosures for main power transformers, sub-stations and power distribution units throughout the plant. Adequately fused power conductors of sufficient gauge to carry the required currents need to be used and must be placed in a way making them easily maintainable. A close look at Figure 1 will reveal very thick power lines running along the roof of the plant, away from machines and personnel.
Transfer of mechanical power in modern assembly plants is minimal, thus reducing the need for guarding of moving parts. However certain machines such as the moving assembly line and automated assembly robots need to be properly guarded to prevent personnel entering the areas where they may be stuck by moving parts of these machines.
Transportation of raw material and components to be assembled poses more of a hazard in an assembly plant than stationary machines. Raw material including rolls of steel weighing 24 tons must be delivered to front entrances of the plant, and transported to the presses. For this purpose, a large area needs to be dedicated to the loading and offloading of raw material. Large trucks will be utilised requiring large operating areas which must be kept free of pedestrian traffic at all times during production. Also, large components need to be transported from the point of their manufacture to the point of assembly. These include engine/transmission units and entire car bodies, which are quite heavy. Large areas for storage, and delivery pathways independent of other traffic is required. Sufficient space must be reserved for turning corners and collision prevention.
This highlights one problem with the disused site. AS the site is located close to population centres, transportation of large amounts of raw materials through these areas poses a hazard to the population. This hazard arises from the risk of transportation trucks overturning or otherwise coming into contact with persons or property in the vicinity of the assembly plant.
The layout of the disused factory must be inspected to see if it can be adapted to these requirements. It is certain that the factory will have to be rewired to accommodate the electrical load. If suitable areas for material storage and pathways for transportation are not available, these will have to be constructed. It will be more costly to modify an existing factory to accommodate such areas and pathways than to construct a new factory as modification will require demolition as well as construction.
Materials safety involves the storage, transportation and use of hazardous substances. For the purposes of plant design, only the first two aspects need to be considered. Fortunately the only chemicals used in the assembly that can be considered hazardous are those used in the painting process. Paint and paint thinner are inflammable and can be a fire hazard. These substances must be allocated a storage area that is well away from sources of ignition such as welding. This area must be isolated or provided with fireproofing to prevent the spread of fire originating from this area.
Unless the disused factory already has such an area, one will have to be constructed to the appropriate specifications. The cost of doing so may prove to be greater that building a new factory with such an area designated.
Access and egress involves the ability of personnel to safely enter and exit the assembly plant and reach their working position with minimum risk of injury. The general principles of safe access and egress are best described by the Safety Health and Environmental Policy A.2 (University of Sunderland 1997):
“Floors and traffic routes must be of sound construction and have adequate strength and stability taking account of the loads placed on them and the traffic passing over them.”
In addition, no holes, bumps or uneven areas which may cause anyone to trip must be present. Floors must be made of a material which does not become slippery, and floors next to machinery which can cause injury if fallen into must be slip resistant. Minimum height and widths are also required for access and egress routes, 2.3 metres and 0.71 metres respectively (OSHA standard 1910.36)
Provided that the existing access and egress routes in the disused factory are of sufficient size, preparing the floors for safe access and egress should not require any more expense than creating the same level of safety in a new factory. However, it should be ensured that the routing of these routes are adequate and do not pass unreasonably close to any dangerous machinery.
Workplace regulations cover aspects of the workplace environment, which must be provided for workers to work comfortably and productively. Adequate ventilation must be provided so that “a sense of freshness” (Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare, 1999) is experienced. Ventilation should be assisted mechanically and should not contain any dust fumes or vapours.
Temperatures may not fall below 16˚C. Lighting must be sufficient to enable people to work and move about without risk. Room dimensions must be sufficient for people to move about easily. Facilities need to be provided for personal sanitation, to rest and to eat meals. These facilities must be kept clean.
Trying to fit new equipment into a factory that was used for something else is unlikely to produce optimum results. In all likelihood, rooms will be of the wrong size and shape to accommodate new equipment and personnel safely. In this regard, major remodeling will be necessary which will undoubtedly be very costly. It will be far more economical to construct a purpose built facility than to re-model an old one in this case.
A disused factory will most likely not be constructed with adequate load bearing capacity to accommodate a modern assembly plant which typically requires a very sturdy structure in order to sustain the immense loading placed on it by the large machinery. In addition to this, the layout of the factory will never be as suited to car assembly as a new purpose built structure can be.
Fire safety is one critical aspect of building construction that has advanced over the years. Fire safety legislation has advanced in parallel with this. With this in mind, a disused factory will require significant upgrades to stay within modern accepted fire safety standards. Because of this, it may be cheaper to build a new factory that to try to implement these upgrades, which will never be as effective as if they were implemented in the design phase of the assembly plant.
It is almost certain that whatever operations were in progress in the disused factory prior to its closure, the requirements for power distribution and chemical storage will not be the same as for a modern assembly plant. Power requirement will certainly need to raised involving complete rewiring of the building. In any case, a building should be rewired after any lengthy time of disuse. It could prove more expensive to rewire an old building than to wire a new one. Similarly the cost of creating safe chemical storage areas in an old factory will cost more than building these into a new plant.
Due to the considerations above, it may prove uneconomical to renovate a disused factory to accommodate a new car assembly plant. Many of the requirements of health and safety in the new plant will require such a significant input of capital that building a new structure may be the more economical option. In addition, a new facility offers advantages that the disused factory cannot. From a health and safety perspective it is therefore recommended that the “green field” in region 2 be chosen for the new car assembly plant.
Plant Design: Making it safe. National Health and Safety commission. Australian government publishing service, Canberra. August 1995.
Principal Emergency Response and Preparedness Requirements and Guidance. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA 3122-06R 2004
Sector Notebook – Auto Assembly Industry, Environmental Protection Agency, September 1995, pg 73
AutoIntel News Website: BMW : Dingolfing Assembly & Logistics, October 30th 2005 http://www.autointell-news.com/european_companies/BMW/bmw-manufacturing/bmw52.htm
Emergency Exit Routes, OSHA fact sheet, U.S. Department of labour, 2003
First News – A division of Credit-Rating Limited website, http://firstnews.com.ua October 30th 2005
New United Motor Manufacturing inc. website, NUMMI stamping, October 30th 2005 http://www.nummi.com/stamping.html
OSHA standard 1910.36, Design and Construction Requirements for exit routes, Occupational Safety and Health Standards, U.S. Department of Labour
Safety Health And Environmental Policy A.2, University of Sunderland JULY 1997
Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare, HSE Books 1999
