christopher Harper, Author at DJ Products

Dumpster Cleanliness Tips for Apartment Managers

How to Keep That Dumpster Clean?

There’s a lot riding on the appearance and reputation of your property. Apartment managers have to be careful about keeping dumpster areas clean in order to keep tenants happy and maintain curb appeal. At the same time, messy dumpsters create a health and injury risk for everyone.

Overfilled dumpsters also present an environmental risk. If your apartments are advertised as a green business, you especially don’t want stray garbage becoming a water pollutant. The Keep It Clean Partnership lists trash from overfilled dumpsters as one of the most common causes of polluted waters. If the trash gets into a storm drainage system, filth and dangerous chemicals wind up in local creeks and rivers.

So, what can apartment managers do to keep dumpsters clean?

Locate dumpsters where employees and tenants can easily use them

Keep the outside of the dumpsters clean so people will get their trash in the dumpster, not on the ground nearby

Use dumpster tugs for a solution to safely transport dumpsters from collection areas to pickup areas

Frequently clean up spills and refuse that are left behind

Dumpster Tugs: Put Garbage Where It Belongs

Material handling equipment helps employees take care of difficult, strenuous tasks like pushing or pulling heavy equipment like dumpsters. What if one employee could safely move the dumpster bins from the collection area out to the curb, without the physical risk of doing it manually?

Dumpster tugs protect workers from injuries and make garbage collection a more tidy and efficient process. Contact DJ Products for more information about a variety of dumpster tugs, ranging from trash container movers to heavy-duty towing equipment.

What Every Property Manager Needs to Know About Dumpsters

Take Care of That Dumpster Safely

Whether you take out the trash yourself or manage a large janitorial team, the property manager’s job includes making sure that waste gets disposed of responsibly and safely. The unwieldy weight of dumpsters creates a perfect storm of physical labor that often leads to serious injuries.

Ergonomic solutions exist to ease this burden. Dumpster tugs use a battery-powered motor that handles the load while the employee simply steers.

The facts are clear — moving dumpsters manually is dangerous:

Wheels do not remove enough of the physical force required to move a dumpster safely.

Workers who move dumpsters without motorized equipment are more likely to get injured or develop a muscle disorder.

Risks include strained and torn muscles, herniated discs, and other significant injury.

Bumpy or inclined ground increases the risk of injury.

What Regulations Exists for Workers Moving Dumpsters?

The exact laws will vary by country and state. Generally, the applicable laws for workers in both the U.S. and Canada require employers to provide a safe work environment. Equipment must be provided and kept in good condition, and the employees should be properly trained on how to use the equipment.

Where the law requires “every precaution reasonable” to protect your workers, this may mean that you need motorized dumpster tugs to sidestep the need for manual pushing and pulling. A worker injury will result in lost time and productivity — and perhaps even a costly compensation claim or lawsuit.

Canada’s OHSA recommends powered equipment such as dumpster tugs, and OSHA in the U.S. also recommends powered equipment for material handling applications.

Explore options for waste container movers and pullers among at DJProducts.com.

Property Manager News: Tenant Management Moves to a Smart App

Apps are The Future For Property Management

Online rent payments have streamlined things for property managers for years, and now there’s an app to handle even more tasks. Landlords in Washington, D.C. and its Maryland neighbors can use Atlas Lane to conduct a variety of business:

communicate with tenants

let tenants confirm their own repair visits

collect rent

receive Schedule E tax forms

renew compliance documents

evaluate prospective tenants

Do You Need a Smart App for Tenant Management?

Apps like this can negate the need for more time-consuming and costly measures like paperwork, managing emails and voicemails, and other more manual tasks. Atlas Lane is only available in the D.C. area for now, but the national market appears prime for distribution.

The cost for using Atlas Lane is 8% of monthly rent. If that seems high, consider how much you already spend on property management tools, and more importantly, the cost of your time.

Because an app can track and record a service request, there’s no risk of forgetting about a repair call. Back-and-forth gets reduced because you can ask the tenant follow-up questions through the app. And the tenant confirms the appointment, meaning a few less phone calls for you.

Automation is Key for Property Managers

The more you and your staff can automate. It’s the same principle behind our motorized dumpster tugs — if an employee can use dumpster tugs to move containers rather than using strenuous, dangerous physical force, the job gets done safely and quickly. For property managers, automating your paperwork and communications through an app does the same thing.

For more info about dumpster tugs and other ergonomic equipment, contact DJ Products.

Tips for Improving Slotting and Picking in Your Warehouse

Improving Warehouse Efficiency

Every warehouse runs as effectively as possible. Orders come in, they get filled and go out. It’s the nature of the business. However, by using a few simple tips you can greatly increase the efficiency of your warehouse, saving time and effort.

Slot your products by season — In many cases, the usage of certain products depends upon the season. Instead of searching the entire warehouse for seasonal products, group them together so you’ll know exactly where to go.

Use software for categorization — List the most frequently requested products that you have with software. Instead of endlessly searching the entire database, these products will come up first and limit your search times.

Group the most requested products together — You can make a warehouse within a warehouse by grouping the most commonly requested products together. Those products which are requested between 70% to 80% of the time, should have their own space. Ideally, they should be closer to the front to reduce travel time.

Waist to shoulder zone — All of your most commonly requested products, regardless of how you categorize them, should be in the waist to shoulder picking zone. Constantly climbing or bending for the most often requested products wastes time and energy.

Use the right warehouse equipment — Regardless of anything else, the right warehouse equipment for slotting, picking and moving surplus will improve effectiveness and efficiency in every warehouse environment.

For more information on warehouse equipment for any job, contact DJ Products, makers of trailer movers, dumpster movers and even rail car movers. We have the mobile solutions for all of warehouse floor management needs.

Weichert Launches New Property Management Company

Property Management

Known for providing top quality customer service to home buyers and sellers, the Weichert Family of Companies announced recently that they will consolidate their property management businesses into one entity called Aureus Property Management.

The gold standard

Headquartered in Morris Plains, New Jersey where it was founded in 1969, Weichert Realtors has grown to be a leader in residential and commercial real estate transactions by going beyond “full service.” They make it clear with the company name that they want to be the gold standard for residential and commercial property management. Aureus was the name of the gold coins that were the main monetary unit of ancient Rome.

Aureus offers a wide range of property management services for property owners and renters. The company helps relocating employees and long term tenants with their housing needs. Services for property owners include marketing, screening tenants, rent collection and maintenance services.

Property manager equipment

For the best waste container and dumpster movers, check out the DJ Products line of efficient, battery powered pullers and waste caddy haulers. Regardless of your property manager equipment needs, we have the electric or motorized cart tug solutions to help your company operate efficiently and reduce the risk of injury to your employees.

According to Greater Media Newspapers, Mike Williams will serve as president of Aureus. Williams was previously president of Penn Property Management and has 15 years of experience in the industry.

At DJ Products, we also strive for gold standard customer service. For information about waste bin movers and other motorized systems, call one of our sales engineers and follow our blog for property manager tips.

Ransomware Causes Shutdown of Kentucky Hospital

Ransomeware

If you have never heard of Ransomeware, it goes like this. An off-site hacker hacks into your computer system, most often a business, encrypts or removes all the files from your computers and stores them in an off-site machine. To get your files back, you must pay the hacker a certain amount of money, and they will then unencrypt or transfer your files back onto your system. It is insidious.

This is what a Kentucky Hospital faced, having all of their files completely removed from their computers, with the prospect of paying thousands of dollars to get them back.

The Solution

Instead of paying the ransom, this particular hospital maintained back-up files that were not connected to their computer system. Fortunately, they were able to go computer by computer and reinstall the pertinent data for each one.

The reinstallation process took weeks and until completed the hospital had to go back to using paper, just like the good old days. Tons of old forms that were packed away in storage needed to be moved back to the working areas, where they were implemented into general use so the hospital did not have to shut down.

It was a grueling process, but it could have been greatly simplified if they had been using powered hand wagons or other hospital maintenance equipment to shuttle tons of paperwork back into use.

You can be prepared for any business emergency with powered hand carts suitable for any job, even hospital paperwork. Contact DJ Products, makers of hospital maintenance equipment, hospital cart pullers, and many more. We have the mobile solutions for your hospital needs.

Smoke-Free Hotels Embraced as the Future

No Smoking

If you haven’t noticed, over the past few years the entire hotel industry, from top to bottom, has been slowly transitioning to a smoke-free environment. Not only is this a direct response to the health issues of second-hand smoke, but it also directly confronts safety issues associated with smoldering cigarettes.

Examples include burn marks from lit cigarettes, damage to furnishings, risk of fire, and nuisance fire alarms. Each hotel has the potential of saving tens of thousands of dollars yearly by going smoke free.

Hospitality Industry Equipment

In every respect, the money saved by going smoke free can be invested into hospitality industry equipment, and more specifically, powered equipment for housekeepers and maintenance personnel.

Housekeeping is the backbone of every hotel, and powered equipment, such as linen carts and housekeeping supply carts, will make the hotel staff more effective and better still, more efficient every time they clean a room.

A powered cart for maintenance employees allows moving heavy tools and equipment with ease. Not only does it cut down on potential injuries, but it allows maintenance personnel to move quicker and easier through halls and passageways. There’s no more straining and pulling to get from one place to another as it is far easier to steer around corners, into rooms and around customers.

If you need more information on hospitality industry equipment like hospitality carts, motorized linen carts or any other powered cart that will aid in housekeeping or maintenance, contact DJ Products, We offer the mobile solution for your hotel housekeepers and maintenance staff that will aid in their effectiveness and overall efficiency.

How to Screen Applicants for Your Warehouse

Quality Warehouse Staff

If you feel like your warehouse is staffed by “warm bodies” rather than skilled workers who will stick around, you’re not alone. Turnover runs high in the warehouse industry, and overcoming churn starts with screening and matching applicants to the right positions.

First you need to look in the right place. Employee referrals can be great because your current workers know what the job takes. Temp agencies also work well because they take care of skills assessment and provide warehouse tips for smarter hires.

Warehouse Tips: How the Best Hiring Managers Screen Applicants

Even with great job advertising and plenty of candidates, the screening process will always be critical. Character and skills need to be assessed above all else.

As one distribution exec recently told CleanLink.com, hiring managers should focus less on the obvious factors (criminal records and drug screening) and more on personality.

Keep in mind that longevity will depend on a worker’s ability to physically and psychologically thrive in the job.

Warehouse tips for screening include:

• Use personality tests that can tell you which people will thrive in various positions, e.g. fulfillment versus management.

• Conduct multiple rounds of interviews, discussing in between and afterward.

• Look for good communicators. Even if the position is somewhat solitary, everyone should be comfortable interacting with coworkers, supervisors and customers.

• Don’t guarantee future raises or promotions. Workers who accept jobs under pretenses that never materialize are more likely to leave.

After screening, avoiding turnover still requires more work. Compensation should be competitive and job conditions reasonable. Warehouse tips for retention would include performance-based raises and automated material handling equipment to relieve physical stress.

Six Technology Trends Embraced by the Hospitality Industry

Hospitality Industry

While some people are reluctant to embrace new technology, most folks recognize that it enhances their lives and work. Many travelers are accustomed to a technology-rich world and expect such amenities to be standard. Today, business and vacation travelers expect features that were a costly luxury just few years ago. To remain competitive, hotels should embrace the latest technology trends and evaluate all of their hospitality industry equipment for possible upgrades.

Six mega-trends in the hospitality industry

Hospitality Technology (HT) is dedicated to covering technology issues for the hotel industry. According to HT, protecting payment and personal information of guests is a top priority for every hotel. Providing in-room technology to guests and interacting with them on a mobile platform also ranks close to the top. The following are the six meg-trends for 2016 from HT:

Guestroom technology: More than half of hotels surveyed (56%) say they plan to upgrade the in-room technology available to guests in 2016.

Future-proofing networks: To avoid the costs of installing new cables every few years, most hotels are opting for the latest fiber optic lines.

Improved security: More online payments means increased vulnerability to hackers.

Mobile engagement: Location-based technology and communications with guests improves customer experience.

All-location internet: Connectivity from any location on hotel property is now expected by most guests.

Energy savings: New technology can reduce energy costs for every size of hotel.

Another way hotels can lower their operating costs is with highly efficient motorized carts and trash dump hoppers. Check out the entire line of hospitality industry equipment from DJ Products to reduce the likelihood of injury to your hotel staff.

Waste Caddy Purchases Increase Due to OSHA’s New Reporting Requirements

WasteCaddy Lite, Available from DJ Products

To many businesses, the new OSHA electronic record keeping rules sound like airing dirty laundry. The policies have been a subject of considerable controversy, but ultimately the message is clear: more than ever before, it’s time to step up efforts to prevent workplace injuries.

Leaders of business groups and labor have chimed in with reactions, rounded up by industrial news group EHS Today. Industry execs from ASSE and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce think that OSHA will be exposing confidential data and shifting the focus from preventive efforts. The AFL-CIO and COSH agree that the rules will protect workers and whistle blowers.

Reactions to New OSHA Electronic Record Keeping Rules

The tougher environment definitely has businesses placing greater emphasis on safety practices and ergonomic equipment.

Sales of automated tools like battery-powered waste caddys have risen as property managers and waste haulers seek to reduce the risk of severe injury incidents and long-term health problems.

Waste caddys and dumpster movers address a common cause of worker injury — the manual pushing of dumpsters that weigh thousands of pounds and take several workers to move. One worker can easily move any waste bin with an electric waste caddy.

With worker injury and illness data getting published to the public, businesses face intense scrutiny. Compliance is demanding. The data might dissuade job applicants from companies that appear to be dangerous. Some fear that the OSHA records could be used to justify lawsuits and claims more often.

Waste caddys are a smart investment to promote safety and reduce worker injuries, at any business where dumpsters must be moved. For more info, consider the WasteCaddy dumpster tow and other motorized equipment from DJProducts.com.

Author: christopher Harper