Access-controlled safety fencing.
Our team completed the installation of an interlocked safety fencing system for a production line in Newcastle and we’re proud of how it’s turned out.
The brief was simple in principle but critical in practice: prevent anyone from entering a hazardous area while equipment is live and operating.
Our solution was Fortress key-interlocked gates on each work zone with a dedicated isolation panel tied directly to each machine’s power supply. A trapped-key sequence so the gate simply cannot be opened until the isolator is switched off and the key is transferred to the gate lock and the machine can’t be re-energised until that key is back in the isolator, plus bilingual (EN/CN) access instructions mounted at each panel for a genuinely multilingual workforce
It’s a great example of engineering out human error: rather than relying on people to remember to isolate before entering, the mechanical/electrical interlock makes it physically impossible to do it in the wrong order.
Great result delivered in partnership with Power Control Engineers, and a good reminder that the best safety systems are the ones that don’t depend on someone remembering the rules.
