In recent research, the CC-GRIND ROBUST grinding disc produces considerably less noise during use than the grinding wheels used to date. This also was confirmed by noise measurements taken under operating conditions at customers’ premises. Noise emissions fell substantially from over 100 to around 94 dB(A) when using a corded angle grinder, and from over 96 to less than 89 dB(A) when using a cordless angle grinder.
While there is a lot of emphasis placed on health and safety, ergonomics also is an important consideration on the shop floor. A focus on comfortability can lead to long-term success, higher-quality work, and happier workers.
Ergonomics is especially important in grinding operations, which often have noise, dust, and vibration emissions that can lead to decreased safety and comfort.
Following common best practices can help improve ergonomics in grinding work.
Body Stresses and Vibration Emissions
One-off grinding jobs may not necessarily create immediate bodily stresses and strains. However, in today’s manufacturing environment, fabricators are often performing these tasks for the majority of their workday, meaning they are subjected to constant physically taxing work. However, operators can take a few steps to limit the bodily stresses that accompany grinding operations.
Use an Adjustable Vise. This is a simple tool that can make a huge difference when it comes to ergonomics. Not all manufacturers will think about vises, but choosing one that is adjustable will allow for the workpiece to be placed at a proper and comfortable angle for the operator.
For example, every operator might have a different angle of operation that they are comfortable with. An operator who is taller may want to move the workpiece to a different angle so that it sits at waist height and does not create any excess fatigue on the shoulders or neck when grinding.
It’s very common to see operators grinding at an improper height. If the workpiece is too high, this can be extremely taxing on arms and shoulders. If it is too low, this can lead to hunching over and back strain. An adjustable vise will not only limit strain and fatigue, but it may also lead to improved performance.
Choose a Tool With an Ergonomic Design. As ergonomics becomes more important, the design of power tools has increasingly followed suit. The term haptic perception is used to describe the active feeling of size, contours, surface structure, and weight of an object by integrating all skin senses and depth sensitiveness.
Handle and trigger placement along with an ergonomic shape and optimized haptics can make all the difference in improved operational comfort. For example, a handle formed with rubber reduces the vibration produced during grinding work by half.
Look for a Grinding Disc With Aggressive Material Removal Rates. As products evolve and integrate the latest technology, a grinding disc with an optimized backer shape will make an ideal amount of contact with the workpiece, which ensures high stock removal coupled with less pressure required. This means operators can exert less force and complete work faster than they would using a standard flap disc or griding wheel.
Not all vises are created equal. A static vise can limit an operator’s range of motion and strain their arms. Choosing one that is adjustable will allow for the workpiece to be placed at a proper and comfortable angle for the operator.
Wear Gloves. A protective glove can combine vibration protection with comfort.
The vibrations caused by the grinding process are substantially dampened at the contact surfaces, without impairing dexterity. A glove should be heat resistant, spark resistant, and free of health-hazardous substances.
Noise Issues
Protecting an operator’s hearing and ears during the grinding process is essential, especially because grinding operations typically generate high and sustained noise levels that can damage pressure-sensitive organs within the ear. Prolonged exposure to excessive noise can be detrimental to health and safety. However, even limited noise exposure can have adverse affects, which is why it is important to limit the amount of grinding noise and ensure that workers have properly fitted PPE.
Choose Tools That Limit Noise. While protecting against noise is always advised, it’s important to look for tools that prevent noise from being generated in the first place. Look for grinding discs that reduce overall noise exposure by finishing jobs faster or those that simply create less noise.
Choose noise-abating measures within the process itself, for example, using low-noise machines and drives coupled with adjusting the acoustics in the room.
Wear Proper Ear Protection. PPE will help reduce harmful noise exposure. Manufacturers can work with in-ear or over-ear hearing protection to ensure that noise emissions are limited. However, not all hearing protection is created equal.
For example, it’s important to evaluate how earplugs reduce continuous and impulse noise.
Ear protection like earplugs should be light and comfortable enough to wear all day long, especially when grinding operations take up most of a worker’s day.
In environments where communication is necessary, there are hearing protection options available that make this possible.
The right tools and PPE will help reduce noise exposure.
Using a grinder with a guard can help an operator fine-tune where the sparks fly without contorting his or her body to reduce spark exposure.
Dust and Spark Debris
Air quality within working rooms must more or less correspond to outside air. From a health point of view, a dust particle’s size and its pollutant content both matter.
A particle with a diameter larger than 10 µm, also known as called coarse dust, gets caught more easily on nasal hairs or mucous membranes. Smaller dust particles, however, can penetrate deep into the lung via the windpipe and bronchi. For this reason, fine dust is also termed as inhalable or respirable dust.
Use a Flap Disc. A flap disc, as opposed to a traditional grinding wheel, will create a lot less dust. Some of the latest disc technology does not have bond and reinforcement elements that contribute to dust creation.
The aggressiveness of the abrasive grit and the optimum contact angle to the workpiece also mean that the material creates less dust. This is because a flap disc tends to produce chips, not dust. The larger and heavier the chips, the lower the risk of dust entering the lungs.
Use an Adjustable Guard. Adjust the guard when grinding to make sure that the sparks are flying away from both the operator and workers in the area, as opposed to towards them. Being able to fine-tune where the sparks fly will make it easier for the operator to perform grinding operations without contorting his or her body to reduce spark exposure.
Ensure Proper Ventilation. It’s important to make sure that an operator wears proper PPE for ventilation. A dust mask is a good starting point. Look for a mask that provides optimum protection from dust, up to 30 times the maximum workplace concentration.
Also, look for ergonomic features like a breath-out valve, which minimizes the build up of heat and humidity from the user’s breath, or an integrated nose clip that can be adapted to fit comfortably and guarantees a tight fit over the mouth and nose.
Steve Schnoll is training and development manager at PFERD Inc., 9201 W. Heather Ave., Milwaukee, Wis. 53224, us.pferd.com.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
The European Space Agency is fast-tracking a new mission called Ramses, which will fly to near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis and join the space rock in 2029 when it comes very close to our planet — closer even than the region where geosynchronous satellites sit.
Ramses is short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety and, as its name suggests, is the next phase in humanity’s efforts to learn more about near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) and how we might deflect them should one ever be discovered on a collision course with planet Earth.
In order to launch in time to rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, scientists at the European Space Agency have been given permission to start planning Ramses even before the multinational space agency officially adopts the mission. The sanctioning and appropriation of funding for the Ramses mission will hopefully take place at ESA’s Ministerial Council meeting (involving representatives from each of ESA’s member states) in November of 2025. To arrive at Apophis in February 2029, launch would have to take place in April 2028, the agency says.
This is a big deal because large asteroids don’t come this close to Earth very often. It is thus scientifically precious that, on April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass within 19,794 miles (31,860 kilometers) of Earth. For comparison, geosynchronous orbit is 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above Earth’s surface. Such close fly-bys by asteroids hundreds of meters across (Apophis is about 1,230 feet, or 375 meters, across) only occur on average once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. Miss this one, and we’ve got a long time to wait for the next.
When Apophis was discovered in 2004, it was for a short time the most dangerous asteroid known, being classified as having the potential to impact with Earth possibly in 2029, 2036, or 2068. Should an asteroid of its size strike Earth, it could gouge out a crater several kilometers across and devastate a country with shock waves, flash heating and earth tremors. If it crashed down in the ocean, it could send a towering tsunami to devastate coastlines in multiple countries.
Over time, as our knowledge of Apophis’ orbit became more refined, however, the risk of impact greatly went down. Radar observations of the asteroid in March of 2021 reduced the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit from hundreds of kilometers to just a few kilometers, finally removing any lingering worries about an impact — at least for the next 100 years. (Beyond 100 years, asteroid orbits can become too unpredictable to plot with any accuracy, but there’s currently no suggestion that an impact will occur after 100 years.) So, Earth is expected to be perfectly safe in 2029 when Apophis comes through. Still, scientists want to see how Apophis responds by coming so close to Earth and entering our planet’s gravitational field.
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“There is still so much we have yet to learn about asteroids but, until now, we have had to travel deep into the solar system to study them and perform experiments ourselves to interact with their surface,” said Patrick Michel, who is the Director of Research at CNRS at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, in a statement. “Nature is bringing one to us and conducting the experiment itself. All we need to do is watch as Apophis is stretched and squeezed by strong tidal forces that may trigger landslides and other disturbances and reveal new material from beneath the surface.”
The Goldstone radar’s imagery of asteroid 99942 Apophis as it made its closest approach to Earth, in March 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/NSF/AUI/GBO)
By arriving at Apophis before the asteroid’s close encounter with Earth, and sticking with it throughout the flyby and beyond, Ramses will be in prime position to conduct before-and-after surveys to see how Apophis reacts to Earth. By looking for disturbances Earth’s gravitational tidal forces trigger on the asteroid’s surface, Ramses will be able to learn about Apophis’ internal structure, density, porosity and composition, all of which are characteristics that we would need to first understand before considering how best to deflect a similar asteroid were one ever found to be on a collision course with our world.
Besides assisting in protecting Earth, learning about Apophis will give scientists further insights into how similar asteroids formed in the early solar system, and, in the process, how planets (including Earth) formed out of the same material.
One way we already know Earth will affect Apophis is by changing its orbit. Currently, Apophis is categorized as an Aten-type asteroid, which is what we call the class of near-Earth objects that have a shorter orbit around the sun than Earth does. Apophis currently gets as far as 0.92 astronomical units (137.6 million km, or 85.5 million miles) from the sun. However, our planet will give Apophis a gravitational nudge that will enlarge its orbit to 1.1 astronomical units (164.6 million km, or 102 million miles), such that its orbital period becomes longer than Earth’s.
It will then be classed as an Apollo-type asteroid.
Ramses won’t be alone in tracking Apophis. NASA has repurposed their OSIRIS-REx mission, which returned a sample from another near-Earth asteroid, 101955 Bennu, in 2023. However, the spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer), won’t arrive at the asteroid until April 23, 2029, ten days after the close encounter with Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will initially perform a flyby of Apophis at a distance of about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the object, then return in June that year to settle into orbit around Apophis for an 18-month mission.
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Furthermore, the European Space Agency still plans on launching its Hera spacecraft in October 2024 to follow-up on the DART mission to the double asteroid Didymos and Dimorphos. DART impacted the latter in a test of kinetic impactor capabilities for potentially changing a hazardous asteroid’s orbit around our planet. Hera will survey the binary asteroid system and observe the crater made by DART’s sacrifice to gain a better understanding of Dimorphos’ structure and composition post-impact, so that we can place the results in context.
The more near-Earth asteroids like Dimorphos and Apophis that we study, the greater that context becomes. Perhaps, one day, the understanding that we have gained from these missions will indeed save our planet.
