The number one concern of every manufacturing operation should be safety, taking precedent over all else. If safety isn’t prioritized, any profits gained by skimped costs will be lost and exceeded by worker’s compensation, reduced moral, efficiency, and time. Ensuring that your workers have the proper equipment and know the protocol when working in potentially dangerous situations will save you from potential losses.

Train Your Workers on Safety

It can’t be assumed any new employees, even industry veterans, are going to be aware of your safety protocols innately. Make sure that they go through extensive hands-on training for any potentially dangerous situations that can occur in their time working for the company. As new safety protocols are updated and put into place, make sure that every employee is aware of said changes. Often, it’s not enough to merely tell your workers these kinds of changes, drilling them on the changes through demonstrations and supervision reinforces the necessity for safety.

Sometimes, workers will cut corners when it comes to safety to meet tough deadlines or when they are fatigued. Ensure that your employees are aware that safety is the highest priority.

Personal Protection Equipment

In manufacturing and other industrial work situations, protection is a must. Hardhats for any place that may have falling objects, respirators for dust and other airborne irritants, and proper attire are just a few of these must-have protections. If employees may be coming into contact with toxic chemicals that can be absorbed by skin, have them wear gloves and long-sleeves. Eyewear should be worn at all times in these situations, as well.

Loose clothing, jewelry, and long hair can all become serious injury and death hazards. Implement a dress code preventing such issues from arising. Requiring the right kind of well fitting, durable clothes or even providing them in the form of uniforms can be a boon to the safety of your employees and the company. Give workers a place to put away jewelry and distracting devices such as cellphones when they are working in dangerous areas; small personal lockers can work wonders. Finally, for employees with long hair, require them to wear it in a bun or some other close-fitting style to put the extra hair out of harm’s way.

Follow Guidelines

OSHA and other agencies that create standards and regulations for industries should always be followed. These protocols and requirements should be taken seriously and never treated as a cost, but rather a necessity. This is imperative not only because it keeps your workers safe, which should be a top priority, but it also protects you from being fined or facing a costly lawsuit.

Keeping your Machinery Safe

The workers themselves aren’t the only factors to consider. Machinery should also be properly fitted to provide the safest environments possible. Keep all parts of the machine up to date and in good condition. If any piece is showing signs of wear, replace it. Waiting could spell disaster for both the machine and your workers.

Some parts of the machine will need to be replaced more regularly than others. Seals are an important part of most operations that require somewhat frequent replacement. These seals hold in toxic chemicals and fumes, protecting your workers from the dangerous materials. Even a water leak from a broken seal can become a safety hazard. Slipping and falling can be just as serious as coming into contact with a dangerous fluid.

How Real Seal Can Help

Making sure that all of your sealing products are the highest quality and correctly chosen for your operation can have an astounding affect on the safety in your work environment. Real Seal’s decades of service to the manufacturing industry have made them a leader in their field. Contact Real Seal today to ensure that the safety of your operation is top notch and won’t become a loss-leader!

Figuring out the physical dimensions and design of a seal is a challenging process, but the material is just as important. Selecting the wrong sealing material can lead to leakage or even more catastrophic failure. Some materials are impermeable to certain liquids and vapors, while others will let them slip through microscopic pores.

If you’re looking for a seal, make sure to select the right material based upon its properties and the forces acting upon it. Here are some things to remember when trying to figure out which seal material is right for your application.

Temperature Tolerance

One of the most common issues that applications must deal with includes high heat applications. Friction, direct heating, vibration, and other forces contribute to the heating of a seal. It’s often not enough to just know the standard operating range of one part of a process, as an entire range of other factors can come into play once the whole operation is connected and putting strain on a seal.

Some materials to consider when deciding on a seal in a high heat application include:

• Fluorocarbon, which has a range of up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, is a common choice for such operations.
• Silicone, which has a range of 500 degrees Fahrenheit; however, it has a lower physical strength than some other materials.

Low temperature applications have their own risks, as well. Melting isn’t the only temperature-related problem that seals not designed for a particular environment can be affected by. When seals that aren’t designed for cold temperatures are put in these conditions, they can become brittle and freeze, eventually breaking, cracking, or fracturing.

Silicone is a good choice for extremely cold temperatures, as it is able to handle extreme cold reaching as low as -175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remember that when choosing a material based on its ability to withstand temperature, it should be able to handle the highest ranges an operation can reach. If the industrial application is cyclical, then it should be fine with every range of factors, not just the most constant environmental conditions.

Chemical Compatibility

Most seals are used to keep in, or out, certain products. Whether it’s liquid, vapor, or a kind of slurry, the chemical composition of the material the seal is made of and how it handles these products needs to be taken into account. Some chemicals will be abrasive to the seal, wearing it down physically. Other products will react chemically with certain industrial sealing materials, causing the seal to weaken and eventually break. If the wrong seal is chosen it may also allow the product or its byproducts to escape, causing loss of efficiency and money.

Not only is it important to take into account the products and byproducts a seal is keeping in, the surrounding environment can be equally problematic. If the operation is outside, underwater, or in an area where the seal may come into contact with other products, then these factors should be taken just as seriously as those directly in the application. A seal that can’t handle water won’t be any help to a system outside in a rainy area.

Silicone, for example, is resistant to high-aniline point oils and is excellent for these applications, but on the other hand it is weak to steam.

Physical Properties

In dynamic applications where a seal is against a moving part or may be moved itself, the physical properties of a material become vital. If a seal is too rigid or hard in an application with a lot of movement, then it may break or even damage the machinery itself. On the other hand, in static applications a flexible is probably unnecessary, allowing for a harder material seal to be used if it is better for the application or more economical.

Making the Right Industrial Seal Material Choice

When it comes to the final decision of what material your seal will be, it’s important to consult an expert to prevent seal failure, which can be expensive and time-consuming to fix. Testing the seal or having a provider that has dealt with similar applications before and can recommend the right material is key. Real Seal is a leader in the sealing industry, with over 30 years of experience. Contact Real Seal today to find the right industrial seal material for your operation.