Safety, Compliance, And Certifications

News broke the other day about an accident at a manufacturing facility not far from us. Two workers’ arms were crushed when a machine malfunctioned. That’s the short story – there is, no doubt, going to be an intensive investigation where the details will be brought to light. For now, the lives of two people who showed up at work to do their jobs have been drastically and permanently changed, and that’s got me thinking (and writing) about safety, compliance, and certifications today.

EXAIR Corporation takes safety very seriously in every sense and every way:

*Design. All of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products are engineered to meet OSHA standards regarding dead end pressures and sound levels.

*Production, part I. We have exacting standards and procedures that govern the machining, manufacturing, assembly, and testing of every product that we make. Training, cross-training, and continuing training ensure that our products are the highest quality achievable.

*Production, part II. Speaking of training, our Production Manager conducts regular, all-hands safety training on a variety of topics. In every single training session, regardless of topic, he makes it clear that safety requires us all: from management’s responsibility for training, documentation and equipment, to operators’ attention to detail and compliance with procedures, to everyone’s diligence in watching out for, and reporting, anything that may not look right.

*Specification. Some of our products shouldn’t be used in certain applications:
-Our Static Eliminators use high voltage at a low amperage to ionize air. They can’t be used near flammable materials or gases.
–Line Vacs create a high velocity, turbulent vacuum flow. Don’t use them with any material that can become an explosive mixture. Same goes for our Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, and Heavy Duty HEPA Vac.
-Speaking of Industrial Vacuums, our Reversible Drum Vacs and Chip Trappers operate by pulling a vacuum on the drum. They cannot be used with any material with a low flash point or with flammable liquids such as mineral spirits, gasoline or kerosene.

*Compliance. There are sanctioned regulatory bodies that define what makes…and keeps…products safe for use. EXAIR goes to all lengths necessary to ensure compliance and reporting with the ones pertinent to particular product lines, whether they’re CE marked, RoHS compliant, UL Listed/Recognized, etc. In fact, our products are also certified as Conflict Mineral-Free and REACH Compliant…for the safety of people involved in providing the materials that our products are made of.