®

DIAGEO:

HANDLING SPIRITS RESPONSIBLY

Leven, Scotland 2010www.pyroban.com

BARLOWORLD HANDLES SPIRITS RESPONSIBLY WITH PYROBANTHE STORAGE OF OVER 1 MILLION CASKS OF MATURING SCOTCH WHISKY PRESENTS EXPLOSION RISKS CLASSIFIED IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS THE PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY. IN LEVEN, SCOTLAND, GLOBAL DRINKS COMPANY DIAGEO EXPECTS NOTHING LESS THAN PREMIUM BRANDS OF SAFETY WHEN HANDLING WHISKY CASKS, AND WORKS WITH MATERIALS HANDLING SUPPLIER BARLOWORLD AND EXPLOSION PROOF SPECIALIST PYROBAN® TO HELP PROTECT ITS PEOPLE AND INVESTMENT.

Diageo’s facility in Leven , Scotland is split into two main operating functions, a storage facility for maturing and blending Classic Malt Whisky and a bottling and packaging facility for a number of its premium drinks brands including Smirnoff, Pimms, Archers and Gordons Gin.

On the Whisky side, over 1 Million casks of annually positioned malt and grain Whisky lie still in 18 darkened high capacity warehouses, maturing, in some cases for up to 20 years. However, what appears to be a standard storage and picking operation is significantly affected by the overpowering whisky vapour.

Terry Fraser, Business Leader, Spirits Supply Scotland explains “Safety is paramount to any Diageo operation and the whisky vapour in the maturation warehouses presents a risk of explosion. Due to the volume of high strength spirit, this site is classed as a top tier COMAH* site, the same classification as a petrochemical facility. Area classification under DSEAR** has also meant that each warehouse is designated as a zone 2 potentially explosive atmosphere meaning that any equipment working in the warehouses must be explosion proof and comply with ATEX 94/9/EC***.”

Terry Fraser is responsible for all 18 warehouses and a total of 36 people who work in teams of 3 or 4. Each team is given a daily worksheet and target for casks to pick or put away. “The teams are trained for operating in zone 2 hazardous areas and are issued with explosion proof

headlamps for visibility and radios for communication. One person picks or puts away on the racking, one person operates the man-up cage on the front of a Hyster forklift that is fully protected by Pyroban, used for lifting and lowering two barrels at a time, and one person is on the ground manoeuvering casks.”

Barloworld Handling is responsible for providing the whole Leven site with materials handling solutions,and the company’s ability to focus on Diageo’s safety requirements is second to none.

John Shields, Key Account Manager for Barloworld Handling for central & South of Scotland, explains “We have provided a complete solution for Diageo, specifically in the maturation warehouses where Pyroban safety systems prevent the equipment from causing an ignition.”

Barloworld also provided additional types of equipment such as a Tennant scrubber drier to keep dust levels in the warehouses to a minimum and a Genie boom for regular maintenance operations. Pyroban’s system 5000 was used in both cases, combining active Whisky vapour warning and equipment shutdown technology with a range of explosion protection solutions on all the motors and electrics.

To effectively provide the level of service critical to Diageo’s operation, Barloworld has two onsite engineers not only trained on the Hyster equipment, but also specifically trained to maintain Pyroban equipment. Kevin McIntosh, one of the onsite engineers comments “It’s my safety too, I

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know what could happen, which is why safety and regular maintenance of all equipment is imperative.” The engineers work closely with Diageo management to ensure that the operation is continually running smoothly and if there are any improvements that can be made.

After the whisky has matured in the warehouses for a given time, the casks are delivered to the disgorging and blending areas where 2 Hyster C1.0 VNA**** machines work within a Zone 2 hazardous area, also protected by Pyroban’s system 5000E. From here, the selected casks are then fed into the blending room where the cask bungs are removed and the barrels are emptied into troughs. A Hyster J2.50XMT was provided, also protected by Pyroban for Zone 1 operation which is to a higher level of safety.

Across the rest of the site, Barloworld engineers are responsible for maintaining almost 100 pieces of equipment, including a fire appliance; however most are Hyster Fortens trucks handling palletised packaged sprits on the bottling and packaging side. The engineers follow a fixed schedule of routine preventative maintenance at their onsite garage facilities, with constant radio contact for immediate service response.

A series of spare trucks are also available for immediate replacement so that Diageo’s operation is never affected by downtime.

“...SAFETY AND REGULAR

MAINTENANCE OF ALL EQUIPMENTIS IMPERATIVE...”

“Safety is paramount to any Diageo operation...”Terry Fraser, Team Leader, Spirits Supply Scotland

Pyroban provide explosion protection solutionsfor materials handling equipment and diesel engines.

For over 40 years we have been at the forefront ofthe industry developing products to protectyour people, your site and equipment when

operating in hazardous & addedsafety areas.

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P11. +44 (0)1273 456800 | www.pyroban.comA Caterpillar® company.

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