Day: September 14, 2015

Back Strain in the Workplace

Only the common cold results in more lost work days than back strain. Overexertion is responsible for 25% of all workplace injuries, according to the National Safety Council. One worker in every 200 experiences an overexertion injury, indicates data compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Annually, overexertion injuries cost American business more than 12 million lost workdays and over $1 billion in compensation costs. The majority of overexertion injuries — 60% — result in back strain, particularly in the lower back.

Statistics show that one in five disabling workplace injuries are back injuries and that more than 25% of workers’ compensation claims are for back injuries. Back strain occurs when the back muscles are overused or ligaments and tendons are overstretched. Recovery can be lengthy; and once damaged, the back is particularly susceptible to re-injury.

Back injuries most often occur during lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying, bending or twisting activities. These are the same activities most likely to be carried out by workers on a daily basis. According to OSHA studies, preventive measures that include weight restrictions on loads and personnel safety training have proved inadequate in reducing injuries. However, coupling preventive measures with ergonomically designed equipment can significantly reduce the incidence of back injuries in the workplace.

By studying the actions used to complete a task, ergonomic engineers are able to design equipment that eliminates or minimizes lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying, bending and twisting actions. Ergonomic cart puller equipment that reduces the potential for overexertion or extension reduces the risk of back injury.

Preventing Heat Injury

As summer heats up, heat can affect workers’ health and slow production. Heat illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke (see our June 24 post) are serious and can even be life-threatening. Fortunately precautions can be taken to prevent heat injury by following these suggestions from the Centers for Disease Control:

  • Reduce the physical demands of the job by using powered equipment to perform heavy tasks. DJ Products powered carts and movers are the perfect solution to take the strain off workers when materials, equipment, products or supplies must be moved from one place to another. Ergonomic design eliminates muscle strain, fatigue and physical stress, protecting the health and safety of your workers. Our battery powered CartCaddies do the heavy labor so your workers don’t overexert themselves in the heat.
  • Wear loose clothing to promote air flow and a hat to shield yourself from the sun. When uniforms must be worn, natural-fiber, breathable fabrics like cotton provide better management of body heat. Certain newer fabrics are available that help wick sweat away from the body, keeping the body cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
  • Decrease work exposure or, when exposure cannot be avoided, the length of exposure to high heat and humidity. Shorten shifts for high exposure jobs or rotate tasks to decrease exposure periods.
  • Use fans to decrease humidity and increase air speed to allow maximum evaporative cooling from sweating.
  • Provide shade in work areas where possible and certainly in break areas.
  • Drink plenty of fluids and replenish salt and minerals lost during sweating. This is why sports figures drink Gatorade and similar beverages that contain salt and minerals. Salty snacks at break times can also help. Water should be continually available to workers during periods of high heat and humidity, and a worker’s request for water should not be denied.

Worker complaints about feeling ill or dizzy when temperatures soar should not be taken lightly. Cool water (sipped slowly); a break in a cool, air conditioned room; and application of cool, wet cloths to the skin will help. But anyone who complains should be carefully watched for additional signs of heat illness. Be aware that some medications exacerbate the effects of heat on the body, a possible side effect about which many people are unaware. If a heat injury victim does not respond to basic first aid, if vomiting occurs, the person loses consciousness, or if his body temperature continues to rise and sweating ceases, call 911 or get the victim to a hospital immediately.

A Truck Pusher is an Auto Body Shop’s Dream

Body shops are in business to restore the damage done to cars and trucks during accidents; to remove dents, dings, cracks and scratches to have the car looking like it just drove off the lot again – but the way many mechanics are moving the cars they work on from the lot into the bay is actually causing further damage.If a car isn’t running properly and needs to be pushed into the shop, mechanics usually do it one of two ways – they manually push it (which can be exhausting and potentially cause injury to the worker), or they use another auto to push the vehicle in which can cause dents or scratches and ultimately creates unnecessary work for the business.There is a far better and easier way to move a poorly functioning car or truck than to cause undue stress on your employees or to potentially cause undue damage to the vehicle.  The CarCaddy truck pusher from DJ Products is the perfect method of moving a non-running vehicle from point A to point B.The CarCaddy truck pusher allows on person to easily maneuver any vehicle, up to 20,000 pounds across flat terrain – which means that just about any vehicle; small, mid-sized or large cars, vans and pick ups can all be moved short distances without having to call in the cavalry or over strain your employees.You will be able to move cars in and out of bays, across parking lots or just about anywhere you need to get them within a reasonable distance with no physical stress or strain and without even so much as a scratch on the vehicle.  With adjustable speed, smooth forward and reverse and an adjustable push pad you’ll be able to get any car anywhere you need it safely and easily with the CarCaddy truck pusher from DJ products.

Taking the Pain out of Cart Retrieval

Nearly all large retail establishments have a multitude of shopping carts to serve their customers and invariably at several points throughout the day; many of those shopping carts are strewn about the parking lot.  This leaves the burden of cart collection on the employees of the establishment, and while its good to have job security, especially in this day and age, this particular duty is probably among the least favorite of many retail employees.

Carts get left in the parking lot regardless of the weather or temperature outside, leaving employees having to go out in the rain, snow, sleet and freezing temperatures to perform this high labor duty.  Collecting just a few carts at a time could make the process take far too long, and trying to collect a dozen all at once could lead to an unnecessary injury – manual cart collection, especially in less than favorable weather, is a lose-lose situation.

A cart retriever from DJ Products can take all of the hassle out of collecting shopping carts by removing the stress and strain on the employee and allowing the task to be performed at a much faster pace.  DJ Products cart retriever can easily handle a line of up to fifty shopping carts, allowing an entire parking lot to be cleaned of carts in a fraction of the time it would take to perform the collection manually.

The Cart Retriever makes this once dreaded job much safer and much easier and it frees up many more man hours for employees to attack other jobs inside the store to potentially create more revenue.  When employees aren’t pre-occupied with cart collection, more product can make its way on to the shelves, more customers can be served and the establishment can be kept organized and clean.  Increasing productivity in the workplace without risking employee safety is the best way to increase profitability and the Cart Retriever does just that.

Lightening the Load on Employees with an Electric Tugger

Hospital and nursing home employees have some very difficult duties to perform on a daily basis.  Linen, laundry and food carts are very easy to push for a single person when they are empty, but start piling on trays full of food or dozens and dozens of sets of bedding and soiled clothing and these carts and get pretty heavy.  A fully loaded cart could easily top out at around a thousand pounds, and for a lone employee that can be quite a bit of weight to bear.The main problem for making these jobs easier lies in the fact that many hospitals, rehab centers and nursing homes have small rooms, narrow hallways and tight quarters in which to operate in general – so trying to move a big and bulky piece of machinery to help you with your duties would be all but impossible.Thankfully, the Electric Tugger from DJ Products is designed specifically for operation in the narrowest of hallways and tightest of quarters so employees can handle these carts at their heaviest without the fear of strain.  The Electric Tugger is also ergonomically designed to keep overuse injuries at a minimum and to cut down on potential sick days and workman’s compensation claims.An Electric Tugger can also dramatically increase the speed at which hospital and nursing home employees perform these duties.  Patients and residents can receive their food and have their rooms cleaned faster and this means that rooms and hallways will be clear of clutter for more of the day.  Clear rooms and hallways are a necessity in these types of facilities to ensure that emergency personnel have the room to operate if necessary.An Electric Tugger cuts down on the chance of over exertion and lets any employee move fully loaded carts quickly, easily and helps to keep residents safe by allowing the staff to keep rooms and hallways clear.  These jobs have been done without the help of equipment for years, but now that there is an Electric Tugger that can help get the job done more safely and efficiently, more and more facilities are attacking these necessary duties the smart way rather than the hard way.

Increasing Productivity With a Shopping Cart Retriever

Despite the fact that the retail industry still isn’t generating the volume of sales that were present a few years ago, discount stores, big box stores and grocery stores still see a high volume of customer and the majority of those customers are pushing around carts to make their shopping experience easier.  The traditional way to gather up all of these errant carts is to have one (or possibly several) employees scour the parking lot to manually retrieve them and while this method may be effective, it isn’t very efficient or very safe for the employee(s) who are doing it. 

A shopping cart retriever can make this part of a retail job much less strenuous on the employees responsible for gathering the carts.  Manual cart retrieval only allows for gathering a few carts at a time if an employee wants to avoid potential injury, but the use of a shopping cart retriever allows for safe moving of dozens of carts at a time.  Being able to perform more work while reducing the potential for injury is a huge benefit for any industry and that’s exactly what a shopping cart retriever can do for a high volume retailer.

Using a shopping cart retriever will also dramatically cut down on the time that it takes for an individual to gather carts from all over the property, which will free up their time to help other associates and perform other duties.  An extra set of available hands is always welcome in a retail establishment, especially during busier times when shelves need to be stocked and customers may need assistance.

Success in the retail industry requires satisfying the customers and creating return business – in order to do that retailers need to increase their efficiency by any means possible.  With the state of the economy, hiring more hourly individuals to help serve customers may not be an option, but any retailer can free up employee time by using high quality and reliable equipment like a shopping cart retriever.

Hospitals and Hospitality Services Get Help from an Electric Cart Pusher

The environment inside of a hospital, nursing home or hotel can be hectic –different scenarios present a wide variety of challenges for employees, making daily duties much more difficult to complete.  Emergencies at hospitals or nursing homes require rooms and hallways to be quickly cleared in order for personnel to act and holiday weekends or special events can completely changed how employees in the hospitality industry have to perform in order to satisfy customers.

In order to increase efficiency and make the environment in a crowded hotel or hospital as safe for employees as possible, it’s important that the staff have the proper equipment to handle their duties.  Food and linen carts can be exceedingly heavy and difficult to maneuver down narrow hallways manually, but with the help of an electric cart pusher the job can be performed much faster and much more efficiently.

An electric cart pusher from DJ Products is designed to attach easily to just about any four wheeled cart with two front swivel casters and two straight casters.  Once attached to the swivel caster end, the electric cart pusher makes for quick and easy maneuvering in and out of small rooms and down narrow halls and corridors.

An electric cart pusher helps to make employees safer by eliminating the stress and strain associated with manual cart pushing.  Alleviating the stress and strain on your employees minimizes sick days; workers compensation claims and keeps you entire operation running more smoothly.  Using an electric cart pusher can also help to keep guests or residents as safe as possible by minimizing the time that rooms and hallways are either partially blocked or completely inaccessible by slow moving, manually pulled linen or food carts.

Making Back to School Easier With the Motorized Dump Hopper

School maintenance and grounds crews have spent the last few months in relatively quiet environments making necessary repairs, stripping and waxing floors, cleaning carpets and making preparations for the school year to begin again.  Now that mid September has arrived and students are settling in again to high, middle and elementary schools around the country, the job of maintenance men has become quite a bit more hectic.

Any time you go from working in a practically empty facility to one that is packed to the gills with hundreds of students and members of faculty, it means that there will certainly be a lot more clean up and a lot more trash to handle.  Travelling around from classroom to classroom and collecting trash and debris manually would be much too time consuming and labor intensive for maintenance crews at large facilities, that’s why purchasing a motorized dump hopper is a wise investment for any school mid to large size school.

The motorized dump hopper lets a single crew member easily haul heavy loads of trash and debris that weight up to 2000 pounds without the stress, strain or possibility of injury that would come with having to haul that large of a load manually.  The motorized dump hopper runs on a powerful, long lasting battery that can keep going strong for an entire shift on a single charge making the trash collection at even the largest of schools much easier and much less stressful on maintenance crews.

The motorized dump hopper can also make trash collection a much less time consuming process, a job that used to take a few hours to complete can be done in a fraction of the time with the help of this powerful piece of equipment so the members of the crew can be ready to tackle other problems and duties as they arise. 

Having a piece of equipment like a motorized dump hopper can make the most strenuous and difficult jobs that a maintenance crew must perform every day safer and easier – and that is a huge benefit to schools who are running on skeleton crews due to budget issues.

The Powered Dirty Linen Cart Makes Clean Up a Breeze

The environment in the hospitality industry can be very fast paced.  The crew responsible for removing dirty linens must work quickly to ensure that rooms and suites are in order and as clean as possible for the arrival time of new guests.  Cleaning crews don’t always have the luxury of taking as much time as they need to get a room in order and there is rarely an instance when a number of additional hands are available to help push and overloaded cart.

A cart that is fully loaded with soiled linens can easily way several hundred pounds and thickly carpeted rooms and hallways make pushing those carts and even bigger struggle.  A single employee attempting to manually strong arm a full cart could easily result in injury that leads to missed days of service or possibly even costly worker’s compensation claims.

The best way to ensure fast and efficient service and the safety of every member of your crew is to offer the best equipment for the job.  The powered dirty linen cart from DJ Products has the right design and plenty of power to make changing linens in even the largest of hotels and resorts easy.

The powered dirty linen cart lets a single employee safely handle a cart that is loaded with up to seven hundred pounds of soiled linens.  The powered dirty linen cart handles easily around tight spaces and narrow corridors and has a variable speed adjustment of 1-3 miles per hour to help get the job done as quickly as possible.

Using the best possible equipment can have a profound effect on employee performance.  The powered dirty linen cart from DJ Products will increase a cleaning crew’s efficiency, allowing them to be better prepared to service the guests, at the same time that it reduces the chance for employee injury.

Shopping Cart Retrievers Help Keep Customers Satisfied

Entering the fourth quarter of the year means one thing to retail establishments, an increase in traffic.  Retailers pull out all the stops during this time of year to get more customers into their stores and to generate more sales.

Specials, discounts and coupons are great for driving sales, but retailers need to be wary that their service level doesn’t drop as the customer flow begins to increase.  You and your employees need to provide everything that your customers need in order to make their shopping experience a pleasant one, including a readily available and fully functioning shopping cart.

With heavier traffic in your retail establishment, there will likely be a lot more shopping carts used.  During particularly busy shopping times, carts have a tendency of getting left strewn all over the parking lot – that’s where a shopping cart retriever can come in handy.

Manual retrieval of carts takes a good deal of time and is very strenuous.  A single employee attempting to push a multitude of carts across a parking lot could end up suffering an injury that causes them to miss work.  A shopping cart retriever allows a single employee to quickly and safely move up to fifty shopping carts at a time to deposit them where new customers can easily access them.  Shopping cart retrievers are a great way to cut down on the stress and strain put upon hourly employees during busy times. 

In many areas of the country there are also serious weather conditions to contend with during this time of year.  Shopping cart retrievers make cart retrieval a much more safe and tolerable job when conditions outside are less than favorable.  Adding a piece of equipment like the shopping cart retriever will increase employee productivity and safety, both of which are crucial to your business’ success during the holiday season.