Adequação de máquinas injetoras horizontais às normas regulamentadoras NR 17 e NR 35: estudo de caso

Abstract

Safety risks with plastic injection machines represent a serious problem in the plastic production chain. Even with the implementation of NBR 13536/16 to establish the minimum safety requirements for injection machines and its subsequent inclusion in the NR 12 regulatory standard, there are risks related to work at heights and ergonomics that are not properly specified, especially during activities of maintenance of the feed hopper or resin change-over. To mitigate such risks, the present work developed two prototypes of safety adequacy of injection machines to NR 17 and NR 35 standards, based on their size and clamping force, the first being a prototype of access ladder and metallic support of the feed hopper and the second a prototype of platform on top of the injection molding machine. After the implementation of the prototypes, productivity improvements were observed, such as a decrease of approximately 45% in the duration of hopper maintenance time and a 33% reduction in the duration of time for resin change-over, in addition to meeting the safety and ergonomics requirements of the NR 17 and NR 35 standards. Through a satisfaction survey, the changes enabled by the prototypes were evaluated as extremely positive by 80% of the technical staff involved.