Tag: worker health and safety

Maintenance Staff Injury Prevention Starts with a Waste Caddy

Man from city service pulling garbage bin
Injuries can Occur from Pushing or Pulling Heavy Dumpsters.

Janitors and maintenance teams have enough physical strain in the course of their job. After making the rounds, lifting and throwing bags into the dumpster and dealing with oversized items, the employee then has to push the waste container to the proper collection site. That last step can be the most difficult – manually pulling or pushing thousands of pounds.

Tips to Prevent Injuries to Maintenance Staff

Prevention has two main components: general health and ergonomics. The ergonomic part is easy – you can switch from manual power to battery-powered waste caddies that motorize the most difficult part of the job.

Safety experts also recommend taking a holistic approach – what John Virsack of ARM has called the “360 degrees of safety.” Consider workplace programs to promote healthy eating, exercise, work-life balance, and stress reduction. Workers in good shape physically and mentally are less likely to get injured and miss days.

Waste caddies and dumpster movers are a necessity for workers, regardless of physical conditioning. No strong man can safely push and maneuver a loaded dumpster 100% of the time. Frequent exertion, inclines, gravel parking lots, etc. – the job needs automation to be safe.

Consider the many safety hazards of manually moving dumpsters:

• Muscle strains from long-term overexertion.

• Herniated discs, torn muscles from sudden force.

• Crushed fingers and toes, e.g. when maneuvering into a freight elevator.

• Pinned by dumpster when out of control on slope or slippery surface.

• Property damage if dumpster strikes parked cars or buildings.

To prevent worker injuries — not to mention the cost of sick days and workers comp claims — invest in a waste caddy to improve safety for your maintenance staff.

OH&S’ Top Tips for Workplace Safety for Healthcare Employees

Manage Your Workplace Risks
Manage Your Workplace Risks

Caring for the sick unfortunately puts healthcare workers at a high risk of getting ill or injured themselves. It’s a stressful line of work with plenty of hazards, ranging from exposure to pathogens to the hazards of working with heavy equipment.

Everyone in a medical facility should be aware of proper safety practices. They include orderlies, nursing aides, and maintenance staff — who face the greatest risk of physical injury from musculoskeletal disorders.

When your healthcare organization discusses safety and injury prevention, be sure to include ergonomic concerns and repetitive task injuries. These issues rank up there with the top healthcare injuries according to OH&S Online:

1. Bloodborne pathogens can be controlled with proper handwashing and wearing safety equipment, along with proper equipment cleaning.

2. Sharps injuries usually occur when storing or transferring the instrument. Use locked safety boxes for storage and pass them in basins.

3. Musculoskeletal injuries are caused by high-effort and repetitive tasks. Common factors include lifting patients from beds and pushing equipment carts. Use powered hospital carts to move equipment and maintenance supplies, and use slings and hoists to move patients whenever possible.

4. Chemical risks require constant vigilance — have safety sheets handy and make sure workers are using protective equipment and safe practices.

5. Fire risks are higher in hospitals than many other workplaces because of the chemicals present. Regularly review your fire response protocol with all workers.

Injury risks for healthcare employees cannot be eliminated, but they can be managed. Automated equipment is a big part of the solution, including powered hospital carts to help move equipment and maintenance supplies. Contact DJ Products for more info about our cart movers.

How to Recognize Ergonomic Hazards Experienced by Your Maintenance Staff

Are Your Workers Moving Naturally and Comfortably Performing Their Tasks?
Are Your Workers Moving Naturally and Comfortably Performing Their Tasks?

You don’t need a medical degree to predict worker injuries caused by poor ergonomics. Watch your maintenance staff perform common tasks to see if they look comfortable and move naturally. If their daily chores put them in awkward physical positions or require repeated motions, it’s worth talking about better ergonomic tools and techniques.

The three biggest risk factors for maintenance staff injuries, according to Ergonomics Plus:

  • High-effort actions like lifting heavy objects or pushing heavy carts can cause musculoskeletal injuries even in generally strong people. Simple machinery and motorized, automated equipment like dumpster tugs should be preferred.
  • Awkward stances or motions cause extra stress on the muscles and joints. For maintenance staff, this often includes reaching above the head, bending over, and carrying or pushing items without the ability to hold the arms at a natural position.
  • Repetitive tasks can build up an injury risk, and the risk worsens if the task requires strength or a non-ergonomic (awkward) position.

Assess Ergonomics for Reduce Worker Injury Risks

Talk to staff and observe their daily duties for signs of the risk factors above. Changes to consider: rotating jobs throughout the day and adjusting or changing equipment to make repetitive tasks easier and more comfortable.

Some aspects of janitorial work simply require too much physical strength to be done safely — like manually pushing a dumpster on wheels across a parking lot or ramp.

Battery-powered equipment like dumpster tugs provide the best injury prevention for the high-force, awkward task of maneuvering a loaded waste container. Contact DJ Products to explore our variety of dumpster tugs and cart pushers that improve ergonomics and productivity.

Preventing Catastrophe

More than five thousand workers are killed on the job every year; weekly reports can be viewed on OSHA’s website detailing the individual events that caused the fatalities.  This is a very scary number, but what’s scarier than the sheer number of deaths that occurred is that many of them probably could have been prevented.

For the week ending May first (the latest week with an available report), there were nearly twenty fatalities.  One of the accidents involved an employee of a major national retailer who climbed onto a storage rack and fell while attempting to get back onto a ladder.  There are other instances on the weekly report that point to poor judgment on the part of the employee and many that occurred as a result of faulty or malfunctioning equipment.  These reports show that the proper employee training and education and the presence of properly functioning equipment that is specifically designed to handle the type of work being performed can most certainly prevent injuries and very likely save lives.

Warehouse and material handling equipment needs to be more than just fast, it needs to be reliable and safe in order to provide the best possible work environment.   The best material handling equipment is quiet, reliable and easy to use because equipment failure and overly complex controls can increase the chances for accidents and injuries.

Employees need to be properly trained on how to use each piece of material handling equipment that they will encounter while performing their job duties and they need to be well aware of all general safety procedures and practices for the workplace.

There will always be injuries in a line of work that requires plenty of physical labor and the transport of heavy materials, but with the proper education and the safest and most reliable equipment, those injuries can be kept to a minimum.