Safety first-open-top skinners set standards for operator safety

Working with open top skinners involves risk: During skinning, the operator's hands get close to the tooth roller and knife bar, leading to the risk of serious long-term injury. The relevant regulations accept this risk as being technically unavoidable. With MAJA-OPS, however, Marel can offer an operator protection system that helps prevent serious accidents at work.

MAJA-OPS is the only protection system for open-top skinners available, meeting the important criteria of the international safety regulation DIN EN ISO 13849 for those parts of control units relevant to safety.It has been audited and certified by the recognized German Test and Certification Bodies (Berufsgenossenschaft Nahrungsmittel und Gastgewerbe, Institute for Industrial Safety of the German Accident Insurance DGUV and TÜV, the German Association for Technical Inspection).

MAJA-OPS is a protection system, which significantly reduces the risk of serious injury to fingers and hands of the operator when working with open-top derinding and membrane skinning machines. The protective function is based on the short circuit principle.

During the skinning process, the operator wears personal protective equipment consisting of electrically conductive undergloves and electrically insulating rubber overgloves, which are very light and comfortable to wear. The operator is connected to the MAJA-OPS via a robust cable connector.

If the insulating overgloves are damaged, for example by an incision, this establishes an electrical contact between the conductive undergloves and the machine and is detected by MAJA-OPS. The transport roller stops immediately and switches to the reversing mode. Serious injury, which can occur time and again during manual derinding and membrane skinning, especially with untrained personnel, is thus avoided.

Before starting work at the machine, the operator carries out an initial function test. During the registration process, the correct conductivity of the glove, the function of the contactors and the electronic components are all tested. The operator is guided through the test by an LED pictogram. This is quick and easy and cannot be bypassed by the operator, as it is an integral part of the safety concept.

The system is designed such that faulty switching due to electromagnetic influences from other equipment cannot happen. The interference-free connection between the conductive glove and the OPS system is monitored and guaranteed at all times.