Let’s now look at the various kind of safety guards that need to be provided to preserve the safety of the operator and all persons involved in the process.

There are essentially two types of safety guards in a filter press:

-Photoelectric barriers (also called Light Curtains)

-Sliding doors

Depending on the function and type of machine, either one or the other or a combination of the two is provided.

Let us start in general by specifying when safety guards are not needed in a sludge filter press.

In general, according to the machinery directive, when with the manual action of the operator ceases, safety guards may not be installed.

So, for example, in a motorised machine, in which the advancement of the hydraulic cylinder pushing the plate unit is caused by the operator pressing a button on the electrical panel or a switch on the hydraulic control unit, once the pressure on the button is released the machine stops in the position reached.

Normally, in these cases, in order to force the operator to use both hands on the electrical panel, not giving the possibility of injury with the second hand, it is required that the operator must push two buttons at the same time to provide the movement command to the hydraulic cylinder.