Design for safety: Equipment engineering as a risk management tool

Photovoltaic R&D and manufacturing operations face serious potential hazards from improper or poorly designed equipment. Common issues include electric shock, fire hazards, higher potential for chemical exposure, flammable / pyrophoric gases, open access to mechanical pinch points and inability to properly lock out or remove electrical and/or chemical hazards. Poor equipment engineering design from these and many other hazards lead to business interruption due to fires and equipment malfunction, higher injury rates and loss of productivity. Considering all of the potential hazards and business impact from poorly designed and engineered equipment, manufacturer´s need to be ensure these hazards are properly managed. The presentation will review key program elements that are needed in order to develop and implement an equipment safety engineering program at an R&D or manufacturing facility. A comparison will also be drawn to the sometimes overbearing requirements from an equipment design protocol such as SEMI S2. Insight will be provided on how several companies have successfully implemented an equipment safety engineering program as a risk management tool.