“A great solution to the safety risks that come with the temptation of using compressed air”
JetBlack Safety has just supplied its 21st cleaning station to Porex, a world-leading manufacturer of porous polymer solutions. The compact dedusting units enable personnel to remove fibres and dust from clothing quickly, safely and without the need for compressed air.
“The JetBlack units have worked exactly how I imagined. They were easy to install, have served their purpose and are the safest and most effective way for our operators to remove material off themselves. This is a great solution to the safety risks that come with the temptation of using compressed air,” commented Chris Chapman, Managing Director of Fairburn Operations for Porex.
Porex is a business of Filtration Group and a global leader in custom-engineered porous polymer technologies that are used inside its customer’s products. Since its first porous polymers were developed over 60 years ago, industries as diverse as medical devices, automotive, cosmetics, diagnostic tests, and water filtration have come to rely on their unique functionality. Porex is widely recognised for its materials science expertise in absorption, diffusion, filtration, wicking and venting, which serve over 1,500 customers across more than 65 countries. Make-up applicators, wicks for pregnancy tests, wicks for plug-in air fresheners, nibs for markers and pipette tip filters are among the wide-ranging applications that have adopted Porex-manufactured components.
Inevitably some dust is generated during the manufacture of components from porous fibres, foams, and plastics. Porex wanted to eliminate the temptation for employees to take matters into their own hands by using compressed air to clean their clothes down – a practice that is not only illegal but carries a high risk of injury.
Porex turned to JetBlack Safety, a leader in dedusting systems, for a safe, easy to use solution. JetBlack recommended its wall-mounted cleaning stations, which use blower-driven technology to deliver a high volume of air at relatively low pressure – only 2.52 PSI (200 mBar), well below OSHA requirements for North America. The lower pressure means the units can be safely aimed at virtually any part of the body (except eyes and ears); even direct contact with skin poses no hazard.
Porex purchased its first JetBlack unit in February 2015 and has since equipped numerous workstations within its Georgia, Virginia, and Michigan facilities with market-leading personnel cleaning systems. Not only does this underpin the company’s commitment to health & safety by providing workers with a safe and easy to use alternative to compressed air, but it also helps with dust containment and housekeeping as particles are not transferred on employees’ clothing to other areas of the site.
Porex reports that the systems are exceptionally easy to use, which has helped drive take-up and compliance within its workforce.
“Operation is just via a simple on-off button, which makes the requirement for operator training minimal and is one of the reasons why compliance is so high with our systems,” said Sean Harrop, Sales Manager at JetBlack Safety.
Other features that set the JetBlack System apart in the market include its robust construction and use of inlet filtration.
“Our system filters the incoming air, unlike systems without inlet filtration, which use ‘cleaning’ air that isn’t actually that clean. The JetBlack unit is also extremely robust in its construction; heavy-duty steel base plates are used to mount the unit to the wall, whereas some rival systems use plastic and are far less durable,” explained Sean.
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