At FCM, we love to help our clients provide safe environments for their employees. One way we do that is by creating guards that prevent workers from getting caught in dangerous mechanisms, like the reel pictured above.

This reel helps supply energy to Domtar’s paper mill in Ashdown, Ark. It uses a pulley system to move a hopper full of coal to an awning that is attached to the coal boiler. As you can probably imagine, if something malfunctioned and someone got stuck in the reel, or even pulled into it, they could be severely injured or possibly even killed.

That’s why we were commissioned to build this new safety guard out of 1/8-inch aluminum and coated it in a special safety yellow colored polyurethane paint that not only makes it more durable, but it also gives it a glossy appearance that makes it highly visible and helps protect the mechanism from rust. This particular model is 43-inches wide, 55-inches deep, and 22-inches tall, but we can really build them in any size clients may need.

Now that this guard is installed, it is not only a beautiful addition to the mill, but it protects the reel from the elements, makes the workplace safer, and eliminates a potential hazard for the workers.

[Safety Manager Nikita Griffin contributed to this article.]