Operating a forklift or battery powered cart without following the necessary safety guidelines is a huge risk that can result in serious injuries or even death, but not all material handling injuries stem from improper use on the part of the operator. If you allow any employee to operate material handling equipment that you know isn’t functioning properly, you are putting every employee in your business at serious risk.The older a piece of equipment is, the more likely it is to malfunction or breakdown, which can cause delays in the completion of work and potentially lead to injuries. Forklifts and powered carts require regularly scheduled preventative maintenance, but if there is ever a question of proper operation it needs to be tended to immediately to ensure your employees’ safety.Distribution of materials is often a fast paced environment with many activities going on at the same time. There may be dozens of employees scurrying around the warehouse filling orders and receiving shipments while a number of machines are working to load and unload trucks or put away stock – if even one of these pieces of equipment malfunctions it could lead to several serious injuries.In order to keep your fast paced environment as safe and productive as possible, you need to have the safest and most reliable equipment. Battery powered carts and lifts from DJ Products are engineered to be quieter, safer, more reliable and cheaper to operate than traditional forklifts and lift trucks. Each piece of DJ Products equipment is ergonomically designed to prevent many of the nagging injuries often associated with manually material handling and easy enough to use so a single employee can tackle heavy jobs quickly and safely.Truly efficient warehouse and distribution environments don’t rely on equipment that may or may not get them through a shift. In order to be as safe and successful as possible your equipment needs to be the safest around and completely reliable day in and day out – and that’s exactly what DJ Products strives for with every piece of equipment sold, including our battery powered carts.
Tag: safety
Hazards in the Workplace
Many things located in your workplace; things that you use every single day without a second though, things as common as pallets, ladders, hand trucks can all prove to be dangerous if not used properly. Many of the pieces of equipment that you use on a regular basis, the things that you come in contact with so often that you take their necessity for granted, can pose a serious health risk to you and others if they aren’t in good condition or if they aren’t properly used.
Regular inspections of all equipment should be made to ensure that everything is in good working condition, regular maintenance should be performed on any equipment that contains moving parts and you should ensure that all of your employees are educated on the proper use of the equipment.
The equipment that you use everyday needs to be: properly used by your employees, in good working condition and capable of handling the work that you are using it for. Many workplace injuries can be avoided simply by the use of the right equipment for the task at hand. The electric carts and lifts offered by DJ Products are easy to operate – your employees can be trained quickly to operate these lifts properly, safely and efficiently. They are quiet – the rest of your employees won’t be distracted by excessive noise while DJ Product’s equipment is operating. They are highly efficient and have long battery life – your employees won’t be stuck with an unfinished load of material in the middle of your warehouse due to the fact that their cart died. All of these attributes will make your warehouse more efficient and much safer for all of your employees.
Safety should be a prime concern when you work in material handling – and safety starts with the right equipment for the job and properly trained employees. You can make your operation as safe as possible and dramatically increase your company’s efficiency by using the right equipment for the job.
Material Handling and Distribution Heats Up in the Summer – Literally
Warehouses are generally poorly ventilated buildings with no good source of circulation, many with metal roofs that absorb the heat of the sun, and certainly no provisions for air conditioning. So as the temperatures of the Summer rises, so does the temperature of the workplace.
Open dock and receiving doors let in the Summer heat and the fast pace of the employees and the bustle of the machinery just forces the temperatures even higher throughout the course of the day. In this type of environment it’s critical to have safe and reliable material handling equipment, because the extreme heat will only add to the dangers of manual material handling.
Having the proper equipment to assist in the transport of heavy loads gives your employees the opportunity to complete their work according to (or even ahead of) schedule without having to over exert themselves inside of the scorching warehouse environment. Old, outdated propane forklifts can throw hot exhaust, which can also work to drive up the temperature in an already borderline dangerous environment making a very uncomfortable workplace practically unbearable.
Just because the temperature has risen outside, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to slow down your operation or that you have to compromise your employees’ safety. Reliable, battery operated carts and lifts help to ensure that your employees will have the assistance they need with heavy materials, minimizing the risks involved with manual material handling. Battery operated carts don’t tend to get as hot as propane operated lifts and they also don’t release hot exhaust into the already stifling air.
Your warehouse or distribution center is most likely going to be hot – even with ceiling and floor exhaust fans running it’s difficult to keep temperatures down. It’s up to you to do whatever you can to keep your employees safe and one of the best ways to do that is to operate with the most reliable battery powered lifts. Lifts and carts from DJ Products will help minimize unnecessary excess heat while ensuring that your employees can safely perform their regular duties without the fear of over exertion.
Functional Equipment doesn’t necessarily mean Basic Equipment
Many of the duties performed in a warehousing environment are repetitive, especially if much of the material distributed is similar. Employees in the receiving department follow the appropriate procedure from unloading to stocking and the shipping department will follow their detailed procedure for pulling, stationing and prepping the materials to be picked up by the freight carrier.
This seemingly simple operation might lead people to believe that any old equipment can perform the job – all the employees are doing is moving materials from one spot to another right? This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth though, the procedures followed in many warehouses and distribution centers follow a similar path – but if safe, reliable and properly designed equipment weren’t available, the business would never be able to keep up with the competition.
Some warehouses would probably be able to function for a very brief period with just the most rudimentary materials, like hand trucks and pallet jacks – provided that the material is to large or cumbersome to be handled manually. There are probably some distribution centers that could squeak by for a brief period with outdated propane fueled forklifts that are prone to breakdown and require regular maintenance but operating in this fashion would certainly mean the most difficult road for the employees and the biggest risk of not being capable of accurately fulfilling orders.
The ergonomically designed and battery powered lifts from DJ Products are the solution to any material handling problem plaguing a warehouse or distribution center. These lifts and carts are easy to operate, quiet, safe and the most reliable available. These days, just keeping up with the competition in the distribution industry may not be enough to survive – you have to give your employees every edge to be able to fulfill orders as quickly and accurately as possible. The edge often begins with the equipment used to get the job done, that’s why many warehouses and distribution centers are turning to the lifts and carts produced by DJ Products for their material handling needs.
Simple Measures Can Improve Warehouse Safety, Productivity
The bottom line advantage of improving worker safety was a recurrent theme this past week as businesses celebrated North American Occupational Safety and Health Week. The annual cost to American businesses of workplace injuries and illnesses is $171 billion. Safety improvement need not come at the expense of efficiency and productivity was the oft-promoted lesson.
“When it comes to improved productivity, safety is an overlooked area,” said Michael Davis of Sedlak Management Consultants. “A lot of times, you don’t realize how much a workmen’s compensation claim costs or the hit you take to morale and productivity if someone gets hurt on the job.” Davis suggested four easy fixes for creating a safer, more productive work environment in warehouses and distribution centers:
- Create designated walkways for pedestrians and equipment. This is particularly important when forklifts or other equipment must share the same floor space with pedestrians. A low-cost solution can be as simple as outlining walkways in yellow paint and installing guardrails to protect pedestrians from equipment traffic.
- Install an alert system to warn pickers of coming traffic. Mirrors can also be installed to help workers track the activity of others, particularly when picking areas are crowded or are shared by both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Davis says an alert system can be installed for $1,500 to $4,500, a fraction of the cost of a workmen’s compensation claim.
- Safety gates that protect mezzanines are required by OSHA. Unfortunately, most safety gates are manually operated and may occasionally be left open. Installing a safety gate that closes automatically better protects high traffic areas.
- Sensors around automated equipment can protect workers from inadvertent injury. Robotic pickers and palletizers are often used alongside human workers to improve productivity in picking and shipping operations. Davis suggests, “the installation of a light curtain around automated equipment. That’s a system of photoelectric eyes that create a barrier around the equipment. If the beam from the photoelectric eye is broken because someone is in that area, the equipment automatically shuts off.”
Five Important Dock Safety Tips
Warehouse safety begins at the receiving and shipping docks. Safe dock procedures set the stage for the safe unloading, handling and storage of materials as well as the packing, loading and shipping of product. Identifying and addressing ergonomic challenges on the dock can directly impact worker safety and dock productivity. “You have to look at everything from what kind of trailer you’re going to receive, to whether the load is floor-loaded or unitized to what happens to it after it comes off the truck. Even the temperature inside the facility and the weather are important,” explained Brent Tymensky, VP of design engineering for Fortna Inc.
Dock safety begins with attention to five important issues:
- Trailer access. The length, width, height and suspension system of a trailer generally determine the dock equipment needed. Other considerations include whether the trailer is dry or refrigerated and whether the load is unitized and fully cubed.
- Dock conditions. Temperature and weather impact dock worker safety and efficiency. A canopy that keeps out cold, heat, wind, rain and snow improves working conditions and worker comfort. Air-inflatable dock seals can form a tight barrier around a trailer, keeping out the weather and reducing energy costs.
- Personnel issues. The age, experience and physical condition of your workforce are factors that determine how and when automated and manual equipment are used. Adjustable conveyors that reach into a trailer can assist with manual unloading and loading procedures, reducing the physical strain on workers. While some palletized loads can be off-loaded as is, many pallet loads must be broken down manually into their components for use or proper storage. Adjustable carts and tuggers can make this work both easier and safer for dock workers.
- Dock safety equipment. Vehicle restraint devices prevent trailers from exiting prematurely while workers are still on the trailer. Restraint devices range from simple wheel chucks to automated systems that bolt into the cement dock and attach to the trailer’s rear guard. A newly marketed interlocking device attaches to the trailer brake emergency airline to prevent the trailer from moving until the dock ramp is removed and the dock door closed.
- Productivity and efficiency. Dock levelers, extendable conveyors and palletizing equipment all increase efficiency in retrieving and loading materials and goods. Trailer drop can significantly hinder the transition from the trailer to the dock. Levelers and vehicle restraints that support the rear of the trailer can eliminate trailer drop as equipment is moved into the trailer for loading or unloading.
Always be Prepared
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also known simply as OSHA, is responsible for setting and enforcing the standards of safety in the workplace. The main goal of OSHA is to reduce on the job injuries and fatalities by assuring that workers are performing their jobs in the safest environments possible. Since it’s inception at the end of 1970, OSHA has dramatically reduced the incidents of accidents in the workplace and they continue to inspect facilities and enforce their policies in an effort to make working people even safer.
Between the federal and state run divisions of OSHA, more than 100,000 facilities are inspected each year and those not meeting the standards could receive heavy fines depending upon their infractions. The number one violation cited by OSHA has to do with forklift operation. This should serve as a warning to all warehouse and distribution environments that if they are operating outdated and unreliable equipment or if they haven’t properly trained their employees on correct usage procedures of equipment that they could suffer citations and heavy fines from OSHA.
There is much more at stake though than a fine, operating your facility with under trained employees or old and unreliable equipment could make your facility run poorly, inefficiently and it can put the health of your employees in jeopardy. In order to have the safest facility possible you need to be running equipment that was designed for the tasks that your employees perform and you need to properly train your workers to operate that equipment.
Electric lifts and carts from DJ Products are designed with safety and performance in mind – they are easy to operate, ergonomically designed and can last for an entire shift on a single charge. Properly using the right equipment is the first step to a safer, more effective and more efficient workplace – and it will eliminate the most cited infraction of the standards set by OSHA and keep you one step closer to compliance.
More Companies Going Forklift-Free
An increasing number of companies, particularly in the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics industries, are moving toward a forklift-free environment. Safety concerns and maintenance costs are the primary factors driving this major change in material handling application.
According to a recent study by the Hyster Company, a major manufacturer of forklift trucks, only 6% of end-users know their real forklift maintenance costs and few have implemented programs to reduce those costs. Over the 20-year life of a forklift, 80% of the total costs are operating expenses. Ownership accounts for only 20% of a forklift’s total cost. The Hyster study estimates that American businesses waste more than $1 billion per year in unnecessary material handling operating costs.
Far more expensive are the human loss and liability costs directly tied to forklift injuries each year. Each year, nearly 100 U.S. workers are killed in forklift accidents and another 20,000 seriously injured. Forklift overturns cause 25% of forklift-related deaths. Medical expenses, insurance costs, workmen’s compensation and lost man-hours associated with forklift accidents cost American businesses millions of dollars each year.
According to John Neuman and Larry Tyler, writing in American Machinist, a forklift-free program can have multiple benefits, including:
- reduced inventory,
- improved material flow,
- reduced line-side handling equipment,
- reduced floor space,
- increased cycle efficiency,
- increased floor coordination,
- increased stocking efficiency, and
- decreased operating costs.
On the human side, a forklift-free environment improves investor, worker and public perception of a company’s attention to safety. It improves worker ergonomics, efficiency and production and decreases expensive lost man-hours, medical, insurance and liability costs.
Next time: Implementing a forklift-free program.
New Side-Steer Powered Cart Handles Long Parts
Long parts or equipment that overhang the ends of the cart have always been a challenge to move. Objects that overhang the transport cart make it impossible for operators to safely push or pull loads from the end of the cart; they just can’t get physically close enough to get a safe handhold or exert proper force. Overhanging loads are generally too heavy to be pushed or pulled by a single worker and their length makes maneuvering these loads particularly awkward and unsafe. Problems with reach length, load balance and load stability even make use of traditional motorized tuggers unproductive and unsafe. The length and cumbersome placement of oversized loads makes it impossible for tuggers built to handle normal loads to safely reach under an oversized product or piece of equipment to grab and connect to the cart, much less guarantee safe transport and maneuvering by the operator.
DJ Products, the nation’s foremost manufacturer of ergonomically-designed motorized carts and powered cart movers, has solved the problem of safely transporting oversized loads with the introduction of its new side-steer powered cart. The unique side-steer design of this self-propelled cart allows the operator to safely walk behind and to the side of oversized loads, providing clear sight lines and safe, easy maneuvering of heavy, extra-long parts and equipment no matter how far they overhang the transport cart. Visit our website to watch a video of DJ Products’ new side-steer powered cart in action.
Capable of hauling loads up to 5,000 pounds, DJ Products’ ergonomic design ensures that the cart, not the worker, shoulders the load. The conveniently-located variable-speed twist grip is designed to reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome while easily allowing the operator to move forwards and backwards at speeds up to 3 mph. Ergonomic design allows workers to perform their jobs more efficiently and comfortably by allowing equipment to be adjusted to the size of the worker. Awkward and unsafe work postures that lead to tired and cramped muscles, longer and more frequent work breaks, and disabling musculoskeletal injuries are eliminated.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that one worker in every 200 experiences an overexertion injury. Annually, overexertion injuries cost American businesses more than 12 million lost work days and over $1 billion in compensation costs. According to a study published in the New Hampshire Business Review, every dollar invested in ergonomics reaps a $4 savings in medical, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost work day costs. To find out how DJ Products’ new side-steer powered cart can safely maneuver overhanging loads and save you money, talk to one of our ergonomic specialists today.
Why Are Ergonomics Important?
We’ve been getting back to basics in our last couple of posts on the history of ergonomics and ergonomic terms, reviewing what ergonomics is for those new to our blog. But why are ergonomics so important in the workplace? Three reasons:
- Ergonomics improves worker health and safety.
- Ergonomics increases productivity and work quality.
- Ergonomics saves money.
Health & safety. People come in all shapes and sizes, but until the advent of ergonomics, material handling equipment was one size fits all. Except the problem was that it didn’t fit all people. Workers taller or shorter than the fictional “average man” to whose size and shape equipment was designed had to reach and stretch or hunch and bend to reach and manipulate equipment controls, to load and off-load product or materials, or to push and pull carts from one work station to another. All that stretching and scrunching around puts stress on the body’s muscles, joints and tendons. Backs become sore, arms and legs tire more quickly, and neck and shoulder muscles start to ache. At first the body heals itself, repairing minor muscle tears, but repetitive stress simply doesn’t allow enough time between exertions for the body to heal. Muscles, tendons and joints can be damaged. Called musculoskeletal injury, this damage can become permanent over time, resulting in permanent disability.
Ergonomics addresses this problem through flexible, adjustable design that allows equipment to be adjusted to the size of each individual worker, ensuring ideal positioning and maximum operator comfort during work tasks for every worker. A national leader in the manufacture of ergonomically-designed motorized carts, DJ Products incorporates a host of important ergonomic features into its material handling products, including:
- Heavy-duty, battery-operated motors easily move loads up to 50,000 pounds, removing the need to physically push and pull carts.
- Scissor lifts quickly position materials at the proper height for each individual worker.
- Well-positioned ergonomic twist-grip hand controls prevent carpal tunnel syndrome by minimizing wrist movement.
- A variable-speed feature incorporated into the twist grip allows operators to safely control cart speed between 0 and 3 mph while moving either forwards or backwards.
- A conveniently placed safety stop switch permits instant stops in case of emergency.
- Added weight over the drive tires creates greater traction, allowing the handling of heavier loads.
- A specially designed connecting arm allows loads to pivot a full 180 degrees, ensuring safe turning without jackknifing.
- Walk- or ride-behind equipment construction provides clear sight lines for safe operator control.
Coming up: How ergonomics increases productivity & quality and
Financial rewards reaped by employing ergonomics