Health and Safety in Shearing (PDF 917kb) - WorkSafe Victoria

Number oneCatching pen floorsTraditional designThe traditional design of catching pen floors is a horizontal wooden batten floor.The battens are often oriented perpendicular to the direction of the drag (across thepen) but sometimes parallel to the drag (toward the door).Shearers say that sheep can be more difficult to tip when the battens run across thepen as the sheep can obtain a better grip. In addition dragging the sheep was said tobe more difficult when the battens are across the pen. Although not yet widespreadsome people believe that a slope in the catching pen would be useful.What is the best floor?In a laboratory, several experienced shearers dragged sheep over floors of variousslopes and materials. The dragging forces and coefficients of friction were calculated.The trials included two slopes and five materials.ResultsThe chart shows that thebest floor has only 55% ofthe friction of the worst floor.Adding a slope to the floormakes the job about 10%easier again.Combining a slope and thebest surface means that ashearer will drag 6 kg lessper sheep or about 1200 kgless per day thereforedecreasing the risk of injury.Recommended floorThe best floor tested consisted of:1. Wooden battens running toward the door.2. Slope toward the door of 1:10.WorkSafe Victoria gratefully acknowledgesVIOSH AustraliaUniversity of BallaratPO Box 663Ballarat 3353Tel: 03 5327 9150100%80%60%40%20%0%55%Wood(Parallel)65% 67%Wood(Perpendicular)Plastic(Parallel)74%Plastic(Perpendicular)Friction when dragging sheep100% = worst floor (steel mesh)100%SteelMeshShearing Shed Design NoteHealth & Safety in Shearing 53