Veolia Water Technologies (VWT) UK has supplied carboy bunds and level sensors to a KP Snacks site in Leicestershire, as part of an upgrade to the company’s steam boiler dosing system.
The changes have ensured that chemical dosing tanks are no longer manually replenished, removing the need for manual handling and chemical handling, reducing the potential of spillages or potential for injury.
VWT UK has enjoyed a long and collaborative working relationship with KP Snacks. As well as providing boiler treatment chemicals and services, the VWT specialist acts as a consultative partner – evaluating the system at the facility in Ashby de la Zouch and discussing improvements with the team on site. In a recent review meeting, VWT UK recommended some changes to the dosing tank process.
“We noticed that there were some key areas where we could improve health and safety,” said Mark Taylor, Site Account Manager for VWT UK. “The site maintained small 50 litre dosing tanks to supply the boiler chemistry, which meant that site had to manually top up the tanks.”
The need for manual handling and the other associated problem was that the corrosive chemicals could be spilled into the surrounding area. To prevent chemical injury from splash back whilst topping up, all KP Snacks operatives working with these chemicals had to wear full PPE, face protection and mask. This is because one of the chemicals used is an oxygen scavenger, which without use of this full PPE could result in serious health risks.
“This process we were undertaking was not ideal, with the need for full PPE (which we know is at the bottom of the hierarchy of control) and if there was an alternative that would help us to better safeguard our employees then we wanted to make that improvement,” said Neil Garner, Site Services Manager at KP Snacks. “The VWT UK team took on the challenge to find a solution.”
The alternative approach was to supply carboy bunds that hold 25kg kegs as well as installing level sensors, which would indicate when the kegs were empty. Rather than having to top up the tank, which involved manual handling the full kegs, the keg would simply move to a ground level operation, which also made it a far easier and safer solution. VWT UK also recommended relocating the new bunds to a more accessible area adding new dosing lines and a cable tray.
The new system was implemented, and Neil commented on the results: “It is a subtle change, which has made a huge difference. Using our new chemical replenishment system is far safer and easier and as we only need to swap in a sealed full keg at ground level, it means operatives no longer are required to wear all of the PPE.”
