SAFETY
INNOVATIONS
GENERAL FACILITY
ASH GROVE CEMENT CO., LEAMINGTON PLANT
LONG BAR AND CHAIN HOOK TOOL
The time-consuming process of
changing bags in the plant's main
baghouse motivated employees at the
Ash Grove Cement Co.'s Leamington,
Utah, plant to design a quicker
method to change bags. The revised
process also helps to protect employees from experiencing repetitive motion injuries. Employees designed a
long bar that extends the length of
one row of bags. Chains and hooks
are strategically placed along the bar
to match the location of each bag in
one row, and then the chains and
hooks are attached to the bags.
An overhead crane does the heavy
lifting by removing all the bags in an
entire row in one lift from their compartments in the baghouse.
GENERAL FACILITY
ASH GROVE CEMENT CO., LEAMINGTON PLANT
PIVOTING THIRD WHEEL
Using railcar door closers is cumbersome for
employees and leads to injuries, often to
the hand or fingers or the back. The doorcloser device is difficult to move around because there are only two rear wheels, and
there is sometimes close clearance in the
areas where the closers are used. Employees at the Leamington, Utah, plant designed
a pivoting third wheel. The device is welded
onto the bottom of the door closer, and the
third wheel pivots, which allows the closer
to be easily moved forward, backward, or
turned to direct the closer fitting into the
railcar door.
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CEMENT AMERICAS • Spring 2013 • www.cementamericas.com