Tag: Safety and Ergonomics

Get Powered Carts for Aging Healthcare Workers

As workers get older, the wear and tear of age, combined with a lifetime of labor can contribute to them slowing down. This does not mean that older workers should be cast aside, however. It does mean that employers need to recognize that retaining older workers may require some adjustments.

A Department of Labor newsletter article entitled, “The Aging Workforce: Challenges for the Healthcare Industry Workforce” outlined a growing concern for employers in healthcare and other industries. It said that “By 2050, the U.S. Census predicts that 19.6 million American workers will be 65 years or older, roughly 19 percent of the total U.S. workforce” and that by 2020 almost half of all registered workers will be eligible to retire. Not only will these workers be aging themselves, they will be called on to assist patients who are even older than they are,

In some instances, these workers will stay on the job because of financial need or a desire to remain active. In other cases, employers will want to keep these workers on because of their knowledge and experience. Either way, employers will need to think of ways to make work tasks adaptable to aging physiques.

Providing ergonomic material handling carts such as an electric cart puller or powered cart from out CartCaddy line of products can make a difference. These are our smallest and most maneuverable caddies, designed for lighter loads and areas with lots of pedestrian traffic. These applications usually have a space constraint, and these products tend to look less industrial in nature than some of our more heavy-duty material handling solutions.

Powered Carts Allow You to Consider More Job Candidates

A powered cart is one of the many material handling solutions that DJ Products offers that can help ensure that your employees don’t become injured as they try to transport boxes filled with products or medication, equipment, and other heavy items.

You may have already known that a DJ Products powered cart is can go a long way towards preventing strain and musculoskeletal injuries but did you also know that using our material handling solutions might change your hiring process? The powered cart allows your workforce to be more productive and human resources to be less selective when hiring personnel for a position that may require some physical labor. Instead of passing over a reliable candidate because you imagine that he or she will not be able to handle some of the physical labor required, you can widen your prospects to include people you may not have considered before.

Sometime hiring decisions can be tough: if you have turned down people in the past because you didn’t think they had to physique or have had highly-qualified candidates reconsider accepting a job offer when they find out about some of the physical labor involved, a DJ Products powered cart can change your hiring process. A candidate can’t change her or her physique but you can see to it that a variety of people can do the heavy lifting, even if they can’t do it with just their own strength.

Want to discuss specific applications for our products in your workplace? Call us at 1-800-686-2651 to speak with one of our Sales Engineers.

Material Handing Solutions Make Light Work of Heavy Loads

Investing in material handling solutions is a way to boost morale among current employees and show prospective employees that you are a forward-thinking employer that gives workers what they need to get the job done.

A number of our material handling solutions have been designed so your employees do not injure themselves pushing or pulling loads that seem simple but will really strain them more than they imagine. We also have material handling solutions for loads that are clearly too cumbersome for someone to move using his or her own strength. Although these loads do require mechanical assistance, any old machine will not do. Please call our Sales Engineers at 800-686-2651 for a recommendation on your proper solution.

For example, the CartCaddyHD cart mover chain drive is a heavy-duty battery powered mover designed to push or pull equipment up to 50,000 pounds. It works well on carts with casters or carts on rails that go straight forward or backwards. Also, heavy trailers with lots of tongue weight can easily be lifted and moved with the CartCaddyHD Cart Mover. Check out this video where two people are moving a trailer using two CartCaddyHD Cart Mover chain drives.

We also offer the RiderCaddy battery powered tug so that a worker can push, pull, or maneuver carts and heavy trailers–either sitting or standing to pull the load. Another advantage of the RiderCaddy is that it allows you to consolidate tasks; carts that previously required the effort of more than one person can now be moved using just one person, freeing up the other workers for other tasks.

Got Power Movers for Industrial Uses? Get Electric Carts for Your Office, Too

At DJ Products, we make a number of material handling solutions that are used in warehouses, hospitals, hotels and a number of other workplaces where workers need to transport heavy loads. And if you are already using our products in these areas, then you know that our power movers and trailer movers eliminate the pain and strain of manually pulling and pushing a heavy cart and wheeled equipment and are also less costly, smaller, and more maneuverable than traditional powered equipment.

But have you also considered using a simple electric cart for other areas of your enterprise? People in your offices may have need of an electric cart for transporting office supplies—boxes of paper, printer cartridges, samples for demonstrations, food orders for group meetings, and presentation materials such as projectors.

Just as you do not want the staff on the industrial side of things becoming strained, you also do not want your office staff hurting themselves either. There is a temptation for people in offices to think that they can just carry heavy loads on their own since they are not doing the kind of heavy lifting that warehouse workers do on a regular basis. They may not have an appreciation for the kind of musculoskeletal strain that carrying a cumbersome load ‘just this once’ can produce.

You and your busy staff will appreciate how our electric cart arrives charged and requires no assembly, so you can put it to use right away. In fact once you have an electric cart for use in the office, you will wonder how you managed without it.

Moving an Airplane Can Be a Solo Mission with an Aircraft Tug

From the paper airplanes you made as a child to taking a cross-country flight, the ability to see something soar through the air is quite a thrill. When an airplane flies, part of the reason it is able to stay up in the air is that the air moving over the top of it is going at a faster speed that the air that is moving below the plane.

An airplane is a remarkable and rather expensive piece of equipment. For that reason, you can’t just use any old machine to move an airplane around. DJ Products’ airplane tugs make it possible for one person to safely and easily maneuver aircraft in a tightly stacked hanger or staging on a ramp. While you wouldn’t think of moving a plan on your own, you can do so with our aircraft tug. Just like flight, that is nothing short of amazing! One person can push or pull an aircraft that weighs in at up to 35,000 pounds with one of our aircraft tugs.

Our airplane tugs have a smooth acceleration and braking system. And the quiet electric motor means that the person operating the airplane tug will not be distracted by noise and can concentrate fully on the task of getting the aircraft from point A to point B.

While we focus on providing ergonomically correct, safe, and cost effective solutions to transport some of your most important products, we have a lighter side too. You can customize your aircraft tug or aircraft tow with a custom logo if you wish. There is no reason that your equipment can’t be useful, safe, and fun all at the same time.

Trailer Movers: Small Products that Make a Big Difference

The DJ Products Trailer Mover is a little piece of equipment that can do big things.
You don’t need something the size of a trailer to move a trailer. What you do need is a material handling solution that has been ergonomically designed to prevent the pain and strain that may otherwise occur when someone tries to move a trailer on their own or with the wrong equipment.

It can be tempting to think that you or one of your employees can just move a trailer a short distance but taking on such as task can cause more damage than you may realize. First, overextending the body when you manually lift and move a trailer from one location to another can cause significant strain on the body…the kind of strain that may seem to go away, only to flare up later. Second, trying to move a trailer, boat, or RV without adequate equipment may cause damage to whatever is in the surrounding area. You can overestimate the amount of control you have over large objects and not realize until it is too late that you did not have the grip or space needed to really maneuver something as large and as heavy as a trailer.

Our TrailerCaddy trailer mover can push or pull an RV, a camper, an equipment trailer or a boat. It is less bulky than traditional electric trailer puller products and offers increased control in tight areas. You can use our trailer mover to move a trailer or boat across a parking lot or just a short distance in a showroom.

Ergonomic Scissor Lifts You Can Use Safely

In addition to its industrial uses, the scissor lift has been in the news this year for its role in charitable endeavors. In some cities, scissor lifts are being used to store good donated for families in need. And in Washington state, a veteran spent eight days living on a scissor lift “to raise money and awareness for homeless veterans.” His efforts brought in $4,000 and at the end he said was glad to back down on the ground again.

A scissor lift can take people to heights they would not be able to reach on their own. The key is making sure that a person can both be lifted and get back down safely. It is one thing to watch someone being lifted on or using a scissor lift but another thing entirely to be the one entrusting your safety to a manufacturer and your coworkers. We have made many different sizes and shapes of mobile electric lift tables for various applications that, when combined with our PartsCaddy mobile platform truck, eliminate the manual pushing of pulling of these tables with loads on them. And with our mobile electric lift you get 16 hours of continuous use batteries—plenty of battery life to usually last two shifts.

DJ Products offers industrial ergonomic material handling electric carts, including pushers, pullers, and equipment industry that eliminate the strain of manually pulling heavy products, parts carts, or wheeled equipment, or eliminate a bulky, expensive lift truck. You can count on us for:

• Carts with casters
• Carts with 4-swivel casters or wagon-wheel style of turning
• Carts in a straight line
• Platform Trucks & Scissor Lifts

Moving a Plane Can Be a Solo Mission with an Aircraft Tug

Do you fly planes as a hobby or does your workplace make use of small aircraft on a regular basis? Before you can begin to fly high, you often need to transport your aircraft to the right place on the ground, but you are not likely to fly the plane to where it needs to be. This is where an aircraft tug or helicopter tug from DJ products can be very useful. We specialize in battery powered tug and tugger solutions that eliminate the strain of manually pulling and pushing heavy equipment, including aircraft.

Now, you may be thinking, that’s great, but how can one person push or pull an aircraft? Well, with an ergonomic material handling solution from DJ Products, you can. Our aircraft tug can easily push or pull an airplane that weighs up to 35,000 pounds, while our helicopter tug can push, pull, or tow a helicopter that weighs up to 15,000 pounds. Watch this video to see how one person can use the DJ Products AirCraftCaddy to push and pull an aircraft without assistance from another person.

Like all of our material handling solutions, our aircraft tugs are designed with maneuverability, ergonomics, affordability, and productivity in mind. You can move an airplane through a hangar and even past other aircraft without worrying about losing control of the plane. You also need not be concerned that you will put strain and stress on your muscles. Our aircraft tugs are available at affordable prices as well, so you don’t have to worry about the strain on your budget.

A Powered Cart Can Be Used in a Variety of Workplaces

A powered cart is a versatile piece of equipment that can not only be used in a variety of work environments but can also be used in a myriad number of ways in one workplace. A powered cart can streamline work tasks and reduce the chance of injury in places like: warehouses, hospitals, hotels, resorts, casinos, offices and schools.

The PartsCaddyLite powered cart has enough power to handle most parts-moving applications within a hospital or other hospitality setting, but it is still small and maneuverable enough to be easily pushed through a crowded hallway.

You can use it to move equipment, boxes, books, chairs and other items. This is the kind of thing that will be used constantly in some workplaces, while in others it may not be used every single day but having it on hand will make a huge difference when there is a need to move heavy items from one spot to another.
While a wheeled cart is also useful, there are times when you need something with more power. This is especially true if your workplace has wheeled carts that have been around for a while–with time these carts can become rickety and difficult to maneuver. You do not want employees endangering themselves and risked collisions in narrow spaces. The cart has a variable speed twist grip for forward and reverse directions from 0 to 3 mph.

Watch this video to see the DJ Products PartsCaddyLite in action and you’ll understand just how useful it can be for your business or organization.

The Benefits of Ergonomic Carpet Delivery

In a Dalton Daily Citizen article that extolls the ergonomic benefits of carpet, numerous reasons in favor of softer floor coverings included:

• Employees may experience less pain in their feet, knees, hips, and spine since carpet “cushion the blows and jolts that can occur from even just walking around.” You may not realize it but carpets can contribute to less fatigue and fewer sore joints.

• Using carpet in schools and officers creates better acoustics because sound waves are not bouncing off of floors.

• After spending time chasing little ones around the house, parents benefit from softer floor coverings. And children who like to run around and play will suffer fewer injuries.

The article, which was aimed at people who are in the business of selling carpet, set out to remind those in the industry that the product they sell has many benefits.

We would like to add that for all the ergonomic benefits carpet can produce for homes, schools, and offices, those who deliver carpet should also consider finding ergonomic ways to deliver these benefits.

A powered carpet dolly from DJ Products makes the loading of a carpet roll, a mat, or a rug from a warehouse to the jobsite an effortless job for one person, instead of having it be work that requires 2 or 3 people. And before you imagine that you will need on unbelievably strong person, you should know that our CarpetCaddy eliminates possible injury the installer might get from over extending the body. Also, the size and price of the powered carpet dolly makes it a much safer and more affordable solution than a bulky lift truck.