Tag: ergonomics

Speed is Crucial, but Not At the Cost of Safety

Your business depends on your employees’ ability to receive and then distribute your product to your customers.  The quicker and more accurately this can be done, the better – unless of course it puts those valuable employees at an increased risk of injury.

In order for your warehouse or distribution center to operate as smoothly and efficiently as possible, your equipment needs to be just as safe as it is fast or you actually run the risk of slowing the order filling process while you deal with the circumstances surrounding the injury.  Losing one of your valued employees to injury can seriously hamper your efforts even if you are a reasonable large company – in a very small environment where each person is critical to operations, that loss of one person can be crippling.

Forklifts, reach trucks and electric jacks all come with a very long list of warnings because material handling can be a very dangerous job if safety guidelines aren’t properly followed.  Employees are required to travel reasonably long distances with loads of product that often weigh thousands of pounds – attempting this on a machine that isn’t designed for safety can lead to very serious injuries or even death.

The lifts and carts from DJ Products are designed to be the safest material handling equipment that your employees can use.  Built in design features ensure that every employee, regardless of height or size can move and lift material in such a way that any chance of injury is dramatically decreased when compared to manual material handling

It just so happens that the safest material handling equipment available also happens to be among the most efficient.  DJ Products equipment is capable of transporting heavy loads quickly, quietly and safely regardless of the distance between the loading dock and the storage rack – and you’ll be able to use your electric cart for a full eight hour shift on a single charge, so there is no need to worry about equipment failure.  Remember that the fastest equipment isn’t always the most efficient, and when it comes to fulfilling orders and keeping your business competitive efficiency trumps speed every time.

Recession Leads to Survival of the Fittest

It’s Darwin’s principle of natural selection in action. In a poor economy, only the strong survive. A recession “always hits manufacturing first and hardest,” Hank Cox of the National Association of Manufacturers recently told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. According to the Associated Press, in December, “manufacturing activity sank to its lowest point in 28 years,” with indexes falling farther than expected. Some index components, including new orders, fell to historic lows not seen since the 1948-49 recession. Overall, the manufacturing index, which has been steadily declining over the past six months, reached its lowest reading since June 1980, the tail-end of the last major recession.

Major players from Dow Chemical to Ford Motor Co. to Anheuser Busch are chopping jobs and shutting down factories in an attempt to stop the financial hemorrhaging, but it may not be enough. With the global economy in a tailspin, manufacturers can’t rely on exports to save them from disaster. And when the big guys are flailing, you can bet small businesses are being hammered. From manufacturing to retail and everywhere in between, the economy is taking a toll on American businesses. No sector of the economy is proving to be recession proof. No one reported growth in December and most sectors of the economy reported declines in everything from new orders to production, employment and prices. Weak companies are going to fail. It’s survival of the fittest, but those companies that do survive the recession are predicted to emerge far stronger than before and in an arena with less competition. To make the cut, you’ll need to roll with the punches and be proactive about the changes that are coming.

The floundering economy and growing jobs crisis has given the incoming Obama administration a popular mandate to change America (see our previous two posts). Industry experts tell us to expect increased government oversight and regulation. Public backlash from the highhanded attitude of financial institutions that refused to disclose how they spent bailout money has assured that future government help will come with lots of strings attached. Add to that President-elect Obama’s campaign pledge to American workers to improve workplace safety and his pledge to the public to increase environmental protection, and American businesses should be girding for a new era of more invasive government regulation.

There are always two ways to handle change. You can rail and fight against it, or you can embrace it and use it to position yourself ahead of the competition. Time and again, history proves that those who look to the future and embrace change survive. As competition increases, the companies that are proactive about incorporating new technology, new equipment and new processes into their operations are the ones that will rise above their competition and live to see a better tomorrow.

Next time: How DJ Products can help you be a survivor.

Ergonomic Equipment Cuts Strain on Depleted Workforce

News continues to look dire for the labor market. The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, or ETI, continued to decline in October. Down nearly 12% from a year ago, the index fell to 105.3 in October, a further 2% decrease from its September level. And the future isn’t looking good, said Conference Board Senior Economist Gad Levanon who predicts continued deterioration of the labor market and rising unemployment rates well into 2009.

“The economic developments of the last two months made it clear to businesses that demand for goods and services in the U.S. is declining, and businesses are responding by aggressively slashing their payrolls,” said Levanon in an interview published in Manufacturing & Technology eJournal. “Unfortunately, it seems this environment will persist for several more quarters and business leaders will continue reducing their workforce.”

Published monthly by the Conference Board, a global non-profit business organization that monitors and forecasts economic trends, the ETI is a compilation of eight labor-market indicators:

  • percentage of workers who find jobs “hard to get”
  • initial unemployment insurance claims
  • percentage of companies with job openings
  • number of temporary hires
  • number of part-time workers working for economic reasons
  • number of job openings
  • industrial production rates
  • real manufacturing and trade sales

Whether we like it or not, in a recession most businesses are forced to trim labor costs in order to survive. It’s happening in every sector of U.S. economy. From retail sales to office workers to manufacturing, layoffs are occurring, workforces are being downsized and retiring workers are not being replaced. This means fewer workers must shoulder greater burdens if production quality and output are to be maintained.

Ergonomically-designed equipment easily enables a single worker to do a job that may previously have required two or more workers when performed manually. By transferring physical effort from the worker to the equipment, ergonomically-designed carts and equipment movers allow business owners to effectively reduce their workforce without taxing their workers.

Ergonomic equipment is designed to prevent the expensive and debilitating musculoskeletal injuries that plague manual pushing, pulling and lifting tasks.  The introduction of ergonomic equipment and ergonomic practices into the workplace have been shown in countless studies to immediately reduce worker injury, decrease associated medical and insurance costs and improve worker morale and productivity.

To find out how ergonomically-designed equipment can help you maintain production values with a depleted workforce, talk to the ergonomic experts at DJ Products.

Freight Solutions for Small and Medium Sized Warehouses

A forklift is a great asset for moving palletized freight or heavy loads from point a to point b in your facility, but not every plant or warehouse that handles heavy loads has the storage capacity or room to maneuver for a forklift to be a viable option.  In many of these establishments, employees are manually handling these heavy loads and workers are risking injury every single day in order to perform their job.

You don’t need extra wide aisles in order to operate a powered machine that can move heavy equipment or loads from one end of your warehouse to the other; you can get the same power delivered by a full sized fork truck in the smaller and easier to maneuver CartCaddy4SC powered hand truck from DJ Products.

The CartCaddy4SC allows workers to quickly, safely and easily handle loads up 4,500 pounds in situations where a full sized forklift would be too big a piece of equipment.  The CartCaddy4SC can also be an incredible compliment to a full sized forklift in high volume warehouses that require multiple large loads to be handled at the same time but that don’t have the budget, need or space to merit having two forklifts on site.

Just like all of the material handling equipment from DJ Products, this powered hand truck is built with both functionality and safety in mind.  This piece of equipment is easy to use, quiet, ergonomically designed and can run for a full eight hour shift with regular use on a single charge.

Your business can operate much more smoothly and safely with the proper equipment for the job and if you need heavy loads moved in tight quarters or need to safely get heavy equipment or stock from one place to another while your forklift is in use elsewhere – your business could certainly benefit from having a powered hand truck on site.

Pushmi-Pullyu Mentality Increases Workplace Injury

Remember the Pushmi-pullyu (push-me-pull-you) from Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Dolittle stories for children? It was an antelope with two heads, one on each end of its body. (In the popular Eddie Murphy movies, they used a llama.) Whenever the creature wanted to move, both heads would take off at once, pushing and pulling back and forth and going nowhere. Since pushing and pulling exert two of the greatest stresses on the body, the poor critter must have been in constant need of the good doctor’s chiropractic skills! That same Pushmi-pullyu mentality toward workplace task and equipment design can put your employees at serious risk of sustaining disabling musculoskeletal injuries.

Pushing, pulling, lifting and carrying tasks place a greater strain on the human body’s soft tissues — muscles and tendons — than any other tasks. These tasks are also universal to nearly all work environments. Wheeled carts, platforms or equipment must be loaded and unloaded and pushed and pulled through manufacturing plants, distribution centers, hospital corridors, grocery store aisles, hotel hallways, office buildings and retail establishments. Most jobs require at least occasional pushing, pulling, lifting or carrying; and many jobs require workers to spend their entire workday engaged in these activities, performing the same, repetitive movements hour after hour. The cumulative wear and tear on the body can lead to serious injury of soft tissues and eventual disability.

Too often tasks, work spaces and equipment aren’t designed to accommodate the natural differences in the size and physical capabilities of workers. A task performed first shift by a six-foot, 180-pound, 25-year-old male may be performed second shift by a five-foot three-inch, 130-pound, 45-year-old female and third shift by a five-foot seven-inch, 260-pound, 60-year-old male. Because work tasks and equipment are usually designed around a “standard” worker type — which, unfortunately, few workers match — most workers are forced to assume awkward postures while exerting force to complete work tasks. Serious, debilitating strains and sprains can result, particularly when these actions are repeated over time.

When soft tissues in the arms, shoulders, back and legs are injured, the tissues recover, though it may take some time. But repeated injury, particularly when it occurs before tissues have had time to fully recover, interferes with the body’s natural healing process, overwhelming the body’s ability to recover and leading to permanent, disabling injury. Such cumulative traumas are called musculoskeletal disorders. Also referred to as repetitive stress injuries and repetitive motion injuries, these serious, disabling strains and sprains cost U.S. businesses tens of billions of dollars each year.

Next time: Ergonomics; just what the doctor ordered.

2010 Applied Ergonomics Conference Slated for March

Scheduled for March 22-25, the 2010 Applied Ergonomics Conference (AEC) to be held in San Antonio, Texas is slated to be North America’s biggest and most impressive gathering of ergonomics experts, applications and equipment providers. What sets AEC apart from other ergonomic conferences is its emphasis on the practical application of ergonomic principles and discoveries to real world industrial problems. This is not an esoteric meeting of high-brow academics, though you’ll find the more practical of their ilk in attendance. This is a working man’s conference. A meeting of industrialists, ergonomic experts and others involved in day-to-day efforts to improve the health and safety of American workers through the application of ergonomics to real world problems.

 The 2010 AEC conference will be held at the Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa with early registration discounts available through January 15, 2010. Ergoweb is offering a special 50% discount to its followers until this Friday, December 18 on registrations for the conference and host hotel. (Click here for registration form and more information from ErgowebM [Expired].)

Keynote speakers scheduled include Y. Ian Noy, vice president and director of Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, and Guy Fragata, senior advisor for Ergonomics Patient Safety Center of Inquiry. Multiple educational tracks and numerous informational exhibits by leaders in the ergonomics industry will also be featured at the conference.

As a leader in the design and manufacture of ergonomically-designed material handling equipment, DJ Products is intimately involved in solving daily ergonomics problems in a wide variety of U.S. industries including manufacturing and heavy industry, hospitality, hospital and health care, automotive and commercial retail. We understand the critical need for ergonomic systems and ergonomic material handling equipment that protects the health and safety of American workers. To find our more about our full line of ergonomic motorized carts and tugs, visit the DJ Products website.

Introducing New Hospitality Applications for Motorized Carts

Business owners must constantly be preparing for coming changes and watching for new trends and products. That’s the reason this blog devotes space to those issues, as we have in the past week. As the country’s leading manufacturer of ergonomically-designed motorized material handling carts, we’ve learned that staying competitive in U.S. industry requires not only the flexibility and willingness to embrace new ideas, but the innovative thinking to see new applications for your products in the workplace. Innovative applications of DJ Products’ ergonomic carts originally developed for health care and manufacturing markets have opened new opportunities in the hospitality industry. When you visit our website, you’ll find a new product category for Motorized Carts for Hospitality, Hotel, and Industrial Environments. 

DJ Products has found that many of the same tasks performed in hospital and industrial settings are also performed by employees at hotels, motels, resorts and casinos. All must push heavy carts filled with dirty linens or cleaning supplies. All sometimes need to move heavy equipment, whether it’s an EKG machine or a one-armed bandit. All need to move materials and supplies from one point to another, usually through narrow and crowded hallways. And all have to haul trash. With the click of your mouse, it’s now easy to find and examine all of these commonly used material handling products in one place by clicking on the new link to Motorized Carts for Hospitality, Hotel, and Industrial Environments from DJ Products home page.

Our expanded listing of motorized powered carts and equipment for the hospitality and hospital industries includes: housekeeping carts, dirty linen carts, wire carts for clean linens, powered and electric flatbed carts, a motorized dump hopper for trash and debris, and more heavy-duty motorized industrial carts and powered movers for handling bigger, heavier, more unwieldy loads. We even offer a motorized cart retro kit that can be adapted and installed on any cart, turning your old carts into money-saving models of ergonomic efficiency.

All of DJ Products’ material handling products are built to maneuver economically and safely in confined spaces. The ergonomic, walk-behind design of all of our products provides clear sight lines, ensures easy maneuverability and protects the health and safety of operators. Forward-thinking business owners who recognize coming trends are already embracing ergonomics as the wave of the future. To find out more about DJ Products’ ergonomically-designed powered carts and movers, visit our website and talk to one of our ergonomic engineers. At DJ Products, the future is now!

ErgoExpo Promotes Value of Ergonomics to Business

With the 15th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition opening tomorrow in Las Vegas, this seems like a good time to promote the value of ergonomics to creating safe working conditions, safe work environments and saving businesses a considerable amount of money on their bottom line. ErgoExpo will focus on the role of workplace ergonomics in economic recovery with special educational tracks detailing return on investment, impact on America’s aging workforce, potential to reduce health care costs, and impact on improving workplace safety.

The application of ergonomics to workplace processes and equipment has been proven time and again to increase productivity and profitability while improving health, safety and morale. Implementing an ergonomic plan and utilizing ergonomic equipment in your place of business is a win-win proposition — for business owners and their employees.

  • Ergonomic procedures eliminate painful movements that can stretch and pull muscles causing injury, particularly with repetition or over time.
  • Utilizing ergonomically-designed material handling equipment eliminates the strain and risk of injury from transporting and positioning materials or equipment.
  • Implementing an ergonomic program creates a safer environment in the workplace.
  • Ergonomic equipment allows workers to stay on the job longer and take fewer and shorter breaks, increasing productivity.
  • A safer work environment means fewer injuries and fewer lost man-hours, increasing worker productivity.
  • Fewer injuries decrease direct medical and physical therapy costs as well as the expense of insurance and disability claims, improving your bottom line.
  • When work is less physically taxing, workers are happier and workplace morale goes up.
  • When injuries go down and morale goes up, absenteeism goes down and productivity goes up!

To find out more about ergonomically-designed material handling equipment, visit the DJ Products’ website today.

Wheel Design Is Important Element in Health, Hospitality Equipment

There’s a big difference in the amount of energy and effort it takes to push a wheeled cart across a smooth, flat linoleum floor and a floor covered in carpet. So many factors come into play, including:

  • The design, width and size of the wheel.
  • The weight of the piece of equipment being moved.
  • The depth and nap of the carpet.
  • Whether the transport area is flat or inclined or a combination of the two.

These issues and many others are seriously considered during the design of ergonomic material handling equipment for use in health care and hospitality settings that generally include carpets in some areas. Wheel design can significantly impact the amount of force it takes to maneuver a laundry, food, utility, maintenance or garbage cart or some other piece of equipment across hospital, nursing home, hotel, motel or resort floors.

DJ Products electric cart pushers feature a unique wheel design that provides optimal traction on both smooth and carpeted floors with no discernable transition issues. The ergonomic design of our motorized hospital and hospitality cart pushers removes transition issues as carts move easily from one flooring surface to the next. Changes in grade and friction are negated by ergonomic wheel design that allows smooth travel over and between surfaces. The unique 5th wheel design of our control arm allows safe 180 degree pivoting of fully-loaded carts under the arm. This feature allows workers to turn heavy loads a full 90 degrees without risk of jackknifing the care or needing to manually maneuver the front end of the cart.

The result is safer operation for hospital and hospitality workers and more versatile use of these exceptional ergonomic material handling products.

Ergonomically Correct Powered Movers Decrease Possibility of Injury

Would you prefer that your business spend money to safeguard against injuries or would you prefer to incur the costs and lost productivity that can stem from employee injury?

You cannot prevent employees from being injured off the job, but you can see to it that they have what they need to stay safe at your workplace. DJ Products provides solutions for material handling situations that eliminate the pain and strain of manually pulling and pushing heavy carts or wheeled equipment. Our powered movers and industrial tuggers Southeast Missourian , this fund “which keeps individual businesses from having to pay the injury claims of workers with previous injuries or health conditions who are re-injured on the job, is going broke. ” The additional three percent that Missouri companies add on to their workers’ compensation insurance has not been sufficient to keep the fund going. Although groups that represent employers in that state are trying to find ways to keep the fund going, there are no guarantees.

Whether or not you are required to pay into a second injury fund, you can take a more preventative approach to worker injury. Investing in ergonomically correct powered movers and industrial tuggers could reduce the chances that your workers will become injured and file for workers’ compensation.