Product Safety Alert Broken Porthole Sight Glass

1. Product Safety Alert Broken Porthole Sight Glass Description: • A porthole-style sight glass (made of hard plastic) on a bulk bin broke and entered the product stream. • An operator had been tapping on the surface to attempt to clear product buildup and regain visibility. • The break resulted in sending hazardous FM onward to product stream. Root Cause Key Findings: What are the root findings of your investigation? • The bolt holes on the Plexiglass plate were found to have hairline cracks. These cracks, combined with very abrasive ingredient passing across the plate surface and constantly vibrating equipment, could have made the plate more brittle over time and prone to failure. • It is customary practice to tap on the plate surface to remove product buildup but this introduces added stress to the plate. Impact What happened due to this incident— The processing system was shut down, emptied and cleaned and the impacted product within the system was disposed of causing a product loss and lost production time. What is your facility doing to prevent this from happening? • An inventory check was completed and many similar Plexiglass plates were found on other bins. Many of which had similar hairline cracks around the bolt holes. • It was determined that visibility through these portholes was not necessary. • All were replaced with stainless steel plates, effectively eliminating the future risk of undetectable hard plastic entering the system. Call to Action • Review areas with hard plastic for fractures and review PM process for equipment.