Open Top Safety Gate Versatility – Four Use Cases
While the Roly mezzanine safety gate is often the first choice for fall protection, the Open Top mezzanine gate has many options and is just as versatile. In addition, the lack of overhead mechanics is a necessity in some manufacturing applications.
Many manufacturing and material handling facilities—particularly in chemical processing, food and beverage, and bulk material handling—rely on overhead hoists or cranes to move materials safely and efficiently. These systems are commonly used to lift super sacks, drums, or oversized loads to elevated pallet drop areas and work platforms where material is prepared and transferred into hoppers or process mixers.
While overhead hoists and cranes improve efficiency, they also introduce significant fall hazards for employees working near the edges of pallet drop areas. The Open Top mezzanine safety gate is an ideal fall protection solution for applications that use overhead machinery, as well as those involving tall material loads.
Because Open Top safety gates provide a clear, unobstructed, and safe opening for materials, this model can be used in a wide variety of applications and settings. The use cases below highlight several environments well suited for the Open Top safety gate.
Mixing Platform – Super Sacks & Sanitation
A specialty food manufacturer using a hoist to load super sacks of ingredients onto a mixing platform needed a solution to provide fall protection for employees working at the platform edge. The company wanted to protect employees from fall hazards while transferring ingredients to the mixer and comply with strict sanitation standards.
Due to the use of a hoist and the size of the super sacks, the Open Top safety gate was the best fit for the application. To meet sanitation requirements, the safety gate was constructed from stainless steel with stainless steel hardware.
Separating Work Zones from Traffic
A material handling facility using a conveyor system reached out to address a ground-level safety concern. Material was transferred from the conveyor system to a pallet drop zone, where an automated lift truck removed palletized loads. This activity occurred in the same area, and while there was no fall hazard, employees needed to remain protected from lift truck traffic.
After reviewing the traffic flow and pallet loading process, custom-engineered Open Top safety gates were provided to separate work zones from traffic zones. The gates protect employees from accidental contact with lift trucks and preserve clear sight lines throughout the facility, as the Open Top design has no overhead mechanisms.
Fall Protection in Flow Lane Return Bays
In pallet flow applications, fall protection is often required around pallet and tote return bays. A beverage manufacturer installing multiple flow lanes within a rack system recognized the need to prevent employees from walking out onto the lanes and contacted us to provide a safety solution.
When reviewing the area, the customer realized the return bays for empty pallets and totes would also need a safety gate, but the pallet flow model would not provide the proper fall protection. Due to the movement of the empty pallets and totes leaving the return bay, a safety gate with overhead mechanisms would limit the planned flow of pallets going down to ground level, and totes being moved to upper levels. As a result, an Open Top safety gate was selected to provide fall protection in those bays.
Power in Pick Modules
A customer’s large pick module features an elevated pallet drop area that handles tall material loads and is accessed by an automated lift truck. Due to the size of the loads and the automated access requirements, the Open Top safety gate was selected as the fall protection solution.
Power operation, radio frequency sensors, and pallet position indicators were integrated into the Open Top safety gate system to improve efficiency. As the lift truck approaches to load material, a signal prompts the ledge-side gate to open. The pallet position indicator light turns green when the pallet is correctly positioned. The lift truck then places the pallet and, as it moves away, a signal closes the ledge-side gate, preparing the area for employees to safely move the material load.
