Industrial Guarding and Safety
Automation Safety Equipment
The industrial environment is full of hazards for workers. Hydraulic presses, high-speed robots, cutting processes, etc. can be potentially deadly hazards if not properly safeguarded. There are a number of different safety devices that can be used to reduce the risk of injury depending on the application and environment. Most of the time these industrial safety devices are used to stop or pause a process while the operator is in a dangerous work area.
If your operation relies heavily on industrial automation, then guarding and safety precautions must be a priority. When working with industrial robots, gantries, robotic arms, or other automation components, safety is a paramount concern.
At Cross Company Automation, we can work with you to devise the right safety precautions for your industrial automation equipment. From industrial guarding to safety mats to e-stop buttons, we have the equipment your operation needs to protect its most valuable assets: your employees.
Innovative Guarding Solutions
Nearly all automation products have a safety component. PLCs use safety I/O, and servo drives have safety inputs on the drive I/O. Pneumatic systems also offer safety systems. An innovative example is a product offered by Numatics that can create up to three independent safety zones within a single assembly and ensure diverse redundancy. The system can be configured to shut down air and power only to the group of valves that controls the machine’s motion in the operator’s vicinity. Thus, the operator does not have to shut down the entire machine by releasing compressed air with a redundant safety/control dump valve.
Another example is Yaskawa’s Sigma 7 servo series, which has an ‘Advanced Safety Option’ that includes safety inputs for Safe Torque Off (STO), Safe Stop 1 (SS1), Safe Stop 2 (SS2), and Safely Limited Speed (SLS).
Having the proper safety systems in place is critical. It reduces the risk of injury to your most important resource: people. This, in turn, protects you from costs associated with workers’ compensation and downtime. Additionally, safety systems such as E-Stops can protect you from additional collateral damage when a machine malfunctions.
Reduce risk
Lower potential for injury
Protect the operation
Lower long-term costs
Decrease injury-related downtime
Safer employees
Offering A Range Of Safety Products
As a distributor for a number of well-respected safety brands, we have a broad range of safety products available for different applications and customer preferences. Our technical specialists understand the technology and can advise you on how to design safe machines. In addition, we have experience dealing with safety across multiple facets of automation including PCs, PLCs, motion controllers, servo drives, pneumatic systems, and robotic work cells.
We know how safety components interact with these systems and will make sure they do not interfere with proper operation while still ensuring the safety of your team. Contact us today to learn more about safety technologies and how we can help you reduce the risk of injury at your facility.
Technical Expertise
Our experts at Cross are able to work directly with your teams to ensure that all safety equipment protects your people and is up to industry-recognized standards
Wide-Reaching Experience
We’ve worked with countless businesses across dozens of industries. And all of that technical experience has given us the expertise needed to provide top-of-the-line service
Respected Brands
We maintain strategic partnerships with industry-leading brands. That way, we can always provide high-quality equipment to all of our customers with competitive turnaround
Cross Industrial Guarding and Safety Products
Laser Area Scanners – Detect the presence of workers in the machine’s hazardous areas. Typically use a 270° detection angle and programmable monitoring zones that can be used for conditions such as Run, Reduced Speed, and Stop.
Fencing – A physical barrier between hazards and operators. It is an effective, low-tech solution for significantly reducing the risk of injury, costly lawsuits, and the machine downtime that results from these accidents. Read more about fencing here
Enabling Grip Switches – Used to prevent unexpected machine operation when workers perform maintenance or other non-routine tasks inside hazardous areas.
Safety Door Switches – Detect the opening of guards or doors for the prevention of access to hazardous areas and safely stop machines.
Safety Light Curtains – Detect workers entering hazardous areas and stop machines.
Safety Mats – When stood upon, detect the presence of workers in hazardous areas.
Safety Controllers – Configurable to receive signals from a variety of safety input devices and control whether to start or stop a machine. Many safety products, depending on their rating, offer features such as circuit redundancy and fault detection. In addition, they have the ability to program logic for more complex safety control.
Safety Relays – Used to build safety circuits and have built-in redundancies. When used correctly they allow for the detection of failures in I/O devices and internal failures and make it impossible for operators to start the machine again until the failure has been corrected.
Safety Edges – Detect contact and send a signal to safely stop.
E-Stop Buttons – Allow operators to manually shut off a machine in the event of an emergency.
Guarding and Safety Equipment Providers
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Why Cross Industrial Guarding and Safety?
As the manufacturing world becomes increasingly competitive, automation is no longer a luxury. It can even mean the difference between your operation and a close competitor’s. Robotics, motion control devices, and other automation equipment have become integral parts of many manufacturing processes. When integrated properly, industrial automation can increase throughput, productivity, and worker safety.
Whether you need to implement automation systems for the first time or you’re looking to upgrade an existing system, Cross can work with you to develop custom solutions. We have the industry partnerships, technical industrial expertise, and world-class customer service necessary to provide you with the precision motion control products and accessories your operation needs.
Contact a member of Cross Automation today to start the process and get the automatron products, components, or accessories you’re looking for. And see for yourself why so many operations choose Cross as their single-source solution for industrial automation.
Related Automation Products
At Cross, we offer much more than just industrial guarding and safety equipment. We can also provide the products our OEM and other manufacturing partners need to succeed.
Check out our other automation products and see for yourself.
