OH&S liabilities for mixers without Safety Cages/Guards

In 1913 Hobart introduced the Planetary Mixer and since then a lot has been said about the legendary reliability of the Hobart mixer range. There are many mixers out there in the market place that are 20, 30, and 40+ years old and still in perfect working order. The one discussion I have been having of late is that of Safety Cages/Guards. All new mixers sold in Australia are required to have a safety cage with cut out switch, bowl height cut out switch, and bowl connection cut out switch fitted as standard. This was not a requirement until Mid Nineties and most units prior to that were not fitted, or don't have the ability to be retrofitted with the safety cage.

2013 Hobart A200C

This has created an OH&S liability for many operations with these older mixers. Recently, many people have been contacting me regarding safety cages as they are being picked up by council and workcover inspectors. Unfortunately, due to the fact that many of these mixers were never designed to take a safety cage, retrofitting a cage is either impossible or prohibitively expensive leaving two options, run the risk or upgrade to a new mixer.

Running the risk may sound like a good idea and for the most part, inspectors will either ask you to stop using the unit, or order you to upgrade. The real issue comes if you or one of your staff members actually injures themselves with the mixer. A planetary mixer has a lot of torque and getting something caught in it (clothing, hair, fingers, arms) will cause a lot of damage. Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law. It is the owners responsibility to ensure that all equipment meets current codes. You maybe covered by insurance so the staff member will be taken care of, but the owner of the mixer will inevitably be pursued for damages and, in extreme cases, prosecuted under the law.



2013 Hobart Legacy Series HL600

Upgrading to a new unit can sometimes be the easy way out. A new Hobart A200 will retail for slightly more than the cost of retrofitting a safety cage to it due to the amount of work involved. Other brands may have the same retrofit issues. The market has been flooded in recent years with many brands of mixers out there now, some being offered at ridiculously cheap prices. Some dealers have even taken to buying mixers and placing their own brand on them. I have seen a strong flow back to the established brands in the past year or so as many customers are suffering failures in these cheaper imports between 1 and 5 years after purchasing. Some don't fail straight away, but instead their gears get loud and grinding, and the planetary action develops a significant amount of play in it, usually from the use of poor quality materials and lack of attention to detail in the manufacturing process. It is a bit of a slap in the face for someone that had a 30 year old Hobart, replaced it with a cheaper unit, only to have it fail after 3 years at which time parts and service become a real issue.

Hobart Food Equipment has our own factory technicians based in the major capital cities. We can come to your facility and conduct an official OH&S Audit of your mixer for $210 + GST.

Alternatively, if you are not sure where you stand with this, contact me for further information.