Reduce Stress and Injuries For Your Employees
Often, the grocery and retail industries focus on preventing injuries related to repetitive tasks and lifting boxes in the warehouse. After taking steps to improve worker safety and ergonomics, grocery stores see fewer claims for worker’s compensation and fewer injuries in general. For another area where you can reduce injury claims, you should also consider new protocols for how workers use dumpsters and waste containers.
Moving dumpsters manually (i.e., pushing a wheeled dumpster without the aid of a motorized dumpster puller) presents numerous risk factors for employee injuries:
• Heavy force
• Pushing to get started from a standstill
• Shoulder and back stress
• Awkward postures
• Unnatural motions
Factors such as a worker’s height relative to the dumpster, or whether a waste container must be pushed across gravel or inclines, can all add up to create a very dangerous situation for grocery store employees who move or operate dumpsters.
Our dumpster puller equipment such as the WasteCaddyLite remove the physical stress of pushing and maneuvering dumpsters. With the push of a button, the worker can move and control the container easily without the risk factors for musculoskeletal injury such as overexertion from breaking the inertia of a heavy dumpster.
Improved dumpster protocols should also include employee training, starting with OSHA guidelines for grocery stores. Dumpster areas should be kept clean to reduce slips and falls. All workers should know the proper motions for lifting heavy items.
Never neglect waste collection and dumpster moving protocols when trying to improve worker safety at your grocery store. Use a dumpster puller from DJ Products to keep everybody healthy while also keeping the workplace safe and productive!