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Health and safety regulations boost strip curtain sales

IMPROVING SAFETY
Strip curtains can assist with safety, health, environment and quality compliance in industrial applications

IMPROVING SAFETY Strip curtains can assist with safety, health, environment and quality compliance in industrial applications

19th September 2014

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

  

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Modderfontein-based Apex Strip Curtains & Doors has announced that all its products earmarked for use in the food and beverage industry are now compliant with the latest international food safety system.

“We have noted a marked increase in the demand for strip curtains in the food and beverage industry,” Apex sales representative Wimm Dessing tells Engineering News.

“This is owing to the increased awareness of foodborne illness and the trend to prevent, reduce or eliminate potential biological, chemical and physical food safety hazards,” he explains.

Hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) regulations ensure the manufacture of safe food products. They also counter specific food-safety hazards such as cross-contamination.

“From production facilities to retail outlets, the food and beverage industry depends on flexible and durable strip curtains to minimise the entrance of dust and heat, while, at the same time, facilitating easy access for personnel and vehicles,” says Dessing.

“Food and beverage clients, in particular, want effective solutions that allow for areas of factories and warehouses to be sealed off to prevent contamination of consumable products,” he says. Contamination can be caused by insects, dust, dirt and even differences in temperature.

“Auditors and regulatory inspectors are compelling industry to adopt the latest standards to eliminate contamination, or they might face fines or even closure if they do not comply,” warns Dessing.

Strip curtains can be used in almost all aspects of the food and beverage industry, from vehicle loading points to access and egress points in warehouses, factories and processing plants.

“In terms of HACCP compliance, we needed to develop a product that could withstand the rigours of the often harsh local environments in which our strip curtains are used,” says Dessing.

In this regard, the company has developed a specially formulated polyvinvyl chloride material that retains its flexibility even after years of use. In addition, the transparency of the material ensures enhanced visibility and safety.

Industrial Applications
Strip curtains can also assist in safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) compliance in industrial applications.

“Our products have contributed significantly to improved SHEQ standards in numerous manufacturing facilities throughout South Africa,” he says.

For example, Apex Strip Curtains & Doors’ welding and safety screens incorporate a heavy-duty ultraviolet (UV) light absorber, that contains dangerous UV radiation in the curtained off area, protecting workers in close proximity.

The welding and safety screens are also impervious to burning, which is particularly important should the material come into contact with welding splatter.

Further, transparent and coloured strip curtains can assist with traffic flow in busy industrial environments, where machinery, such as forklifts, and personnel are constantly moving. “We can offer high-visibility strip curtains to demarcate machinery and personnel traffic lanes. This assists in mitigating the risk of collision and subsequent injury,” explains Dessing. The warning strips can also be used to indicate stationary items such as poles, pillars or stock.

In addition, noise levels can be reduced by means of specially installed strip curtains. “We can increase the curtain overlap to a great degree and, by doing this, noise levels can be reduced by up to 25% in most instances,” he says.

All products from Apex Strip Curtains & Doors are South African Bureau of Standards- approved.

Edited by Megan van Wyngaardt
Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

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