Better safety for staff – and optimum protection for the goods

The starting point.

The One World Trade Center in New York, The Marq in Singapore and One One One Eagle Street in the heart of Brisbane, Australia, have one thing in common: Their façades are made of glazing from the INTERPANE Group. The company is a subsidiary of AGC Glass Europe, which belongs to the Japanese glass company, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. The company employs 50,000 people worldwide.

INTERPANE’s product range includes float glass, low-iron glass, high-quality coated thermal insulation glass, soundproofing and solar control insulating glass, safety glass, glazing for architectural design and products for solar applications.

The company supplies glass elements for regional and international large-scale construction projects as well as for the local window construction market. They also are one of the few manufacturers worldwide to produce coated glazing with remarkable sizes up to 18 metres in length, 3.21 metres in height and pane thicknesses of up to 20 millimetres.

The challenge of protecting feet.

INTERPANE attaches great importance to health and safety at work when manufacturing and refining its glass products. The company has announced a proactive, zero tolerance strategy. With this strategy, the glass manufacturer is pursuing its goal of preventing accidents at work, protecting the health of its employees in the long term and raising awareness of risks. All of the processes are planned and optimised accordingly, regular risk assessments are carried out and all accidents are analysed in detail.

Naturally, this also applies to the transport of the glass panes, some of which are up to 20 square metres in size. In order to ensure safe transport during the production process, the raw glass is cut to size according to the customer's requirements and loaded onto transport trolleys. Depending on the order, the panes can be up to about seven and a half metres long and around three metres high. Not to mention, their total weight can be up to 2.5 tonnes.

This presents a particular challenge in terms of operational safety. If the heavily loaded transport trolleys move too quickly or get caught on obstacles or uneven surfaces, they can bump into the employees' ankles or run over their feet. In order to prevent injuries, INTERPANE has so far used two different foot protection systems, neither of which could meet the stringent safety requirements or cope with the conditions in practice: A rigid system was found to be suitable for transportation on level floors, but as soon as the trolleys hit unfavourable ground conditions, the foot protection soon came into contact with the ground. The result: Abrupt stopping or even tipping of the transport trolleys.

The flexible protective device also posed a similar risk. This device could be drawn under the wheels and stop the castors. Both models thus posed a danger for employees and for the goods being transported. The glass manufacturer therefore needed a foot protection system that would ensure maximum safety in accordance with the company's preventive strategy.