Tag: safety

Ergonomic Solutions Can Benefit Your Business

Ergonomic solutions are proven to decrease the incidence and severity of musculoskeletal injuries caused by manual material handling work tasks, reports a 2007 study by Cal-OSHA and NIOSH (see our Aug. 20 post). “Manual handling of containers may expose workers to physical conditions (e.g., force, awkward postures, and repetitive motions) that can lead to injuries, wasted energy, and wasted time,” warns the report. Using ergonomic solutions in the workplace to improve the fit between task demands and worker abilities can significantly benefit your business, the report concludes.

The U.S. Department of Labor defines manual material handling (MMH) as “seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with the hand or hands.” This includes moving individual items or pieces of equipment by manually lifting, lowering, filling, emptying or carrying them. These actions can place extreme stress on workers’ bodies, particularly back, shoulder and arm muscles. (Back injuries are the most commonly reported workplace injury in workers’ compensation claims.)

Ergonomic solutions to material handling seek not only to decrease the physical burden on workers’ bodies, but also to accommodate the wide variety of workers’ abilities and body types. Workers’ abilities will vary with gender, age, gender, strength, stature and a host of other variables. Ergonomic solutions often provide adjustable features to accommodate these differences.

According to the Cal-OSHA/NIOSH report, employing ergonomic equipment and ergonomic task design in your workplace will produce the following benefits:

  • Reduce and prevent injuries;
  • Reduce physical effort by workers by decreasing the forces necessary to perform lifting, handling, pushing and pulling tasks;
  • Reduce risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders;
  • Increase productivity, product and service quality and worker morale;
  • Eliminate production bottlenecks and error rates; and
  • Lower costs by reducing medical, insurance and workers’ compensation claims, lost man-hours, absenteeism and retraining.

Visit the DJ Products website to learn more about ergonomic solutions that will benefit your business.

Specialized Carts Designed for Hospital Use

Any nurse, therapist, aide or worker will tell you that working in hospitals, nursing homes and similar settings is back-breaking work. Workers are on their feet all day long and constantly on the move. There’s a lot of bending, stretching, reaching, pushing and pulling involved — all activities that can strain and stress muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints and lead to potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injuries.

Most hospital workers, who typically work 12-hour shifts, will tell you that workloads are already heavy. No one appreciates the extra burden imposed when a fellow worker calls in sick with a strained back. Musculoskeletal injuries aren’t a quick 24-hour fix. They entail days to weeks and sometimes even months of treatment and physical therapy. Returning workers must often be assigned to light duty jobs or face re-injury if they attempt their former activities. The lost man-hours, reassignment and rescheduling needs can create significant problems, both for administrators and fellow workers. The high costs of medical treatment, insurance and workers’ compensation make the elimination of musculoskeletal injury risk a high priority for hospitals, nursing homes and similar facilities.

The heavy pedestrian traffic, narrow corridors and constrained spaces typical of hospital settings present a unique challenge in designing ergonomic equipment to take the physical burden off medical workers. That’s why so many tasks in these settings are still performed manually, despite the risk of injury. To answer the unique needs of hospital settings, DJ Products has created a specially designed line of motorized cart pushers. We have produced a line of small, extremely maneuverable caddies that are designed to carry lighter loads. The quick and easy maneuverability of these carts makes them ideal for use in confined spaces and in areas with high pedestrian traffic.

  • The CartCaddyLite is the smallest, most maneuverable tug available on the market today. This battery-powered electric tug can push or pull up to 1,000 pounds and is versatile enough to handle a variety of cart types, including dollies, hand trucks, laundry carts, hospital carts, maintenance carts and hospital beds. Click here for CartCaddyLite specifications and a video demonstration of this versatile cart puller/pusher.
  • The CartCaddyShorty has enough power to handle carts and equipment that weigh 3,000 to 20,000 pounds. This battery-powered electric tug is a powerful workhorse that can transport heavy equipment, food carts, laundry bins, x-ray machines, respiratory equipment, dialysis equipment, oxygen canisters, wheelchairs, IV poles, even bags of garbage. Click here for CartCaddyShorty specifications.

For more information on these and other DJ Products’ carts, tugs and caddies designed for the hospital industry, visit the DJ Products website.

Battery Powered Tugger Reduces Injury at Food Processing Plant

At a major food processing plant, workers had to manually push heavy meat carts to maneuver them between processing stations. Concerned about injury risk and worker safety, plant executives turned to DJ Products for ergonomic solutions to their material handling problem. Our experts recommended the CartCaddyShorty battery powered tugger, a motorized cart mover designed to push, pull and maneuver carts that require turning. The battery powered tugger is the most maneuverable tug on the market today with the power to handle most push/pull applications. Most commonly used with carts that have two front swivel casters and two straight casters, the ergonomically-designed CartCaddyShorty attaches to the swivel end of the cart to provide the power necessary for easy pushing, pulling, turning and intricate maneuvering. Heavy carts that usually require two workers to maneuver can be easily managed by a single employee. The battery powered tugger takes the physical burden off your workers, eliminating the exertion and straining that can cause serious and expensive musculoskeletal injuries.Musculoskeletal injuries cost U.S. businesses billions of dollars in medical, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost man-hour costs each year. According to OSHA statistics, back injuries alone cost businesses $12 million in lost workdays and $1 billion in compensation costs annually. The time-lost cost of a single back injury is estimated at $26,000.Through proactive use of the CartCaddyShorty, this major food processer was able to eliminate potential musculoskeletal injury risk at its facility. They also realized an increase in productivity and improved employee moral after introduction of DJ Products’ battery powered tugger. The CartCaddyShorty has also proved effective in hospital, hospitality and retail applications.Click here to learn more and to watch a video of the CartCaddyShorty in action. The world leader in providing battery powered tuggers and equipment movers to the manufacturing, hospital and retail markets, DJ Products offers a full line of ergonomically designed, powered carts, tugs and movers.

MHIA Launches New Overhead Group

With a plethora of fatal crane accidents peppering the news this year, crane and hoist manufacturers are taking some safety cues from their ergonomically-savvy brethren in the material handling industry. Joining with the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) to form the just-launched Overhead Alliance (OA) group, crane, hoist and monorail industry organizations will be promoting alternative methods of lifting and moving materials that reduce accidents, improve workplace health and safety, reduce product damage, improve workflow, lower costs and reduce environmental impact.

Focusing the combined resources of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) and Monorail Manufacturers Association (MMA), OA will give these affiliated trade associations a common voice within the material handling community. Over the next year, OA plans to launch a campaign promoting safer, healthier, greener alternatives to traditional lift trucks for lifting and moving materials, including the use of bridge, gantry and jib cranes and hoists. Not only are lift trucks notorious gas guzzlers, they account for the majority of serious and fatal material handling accidents.

OA will make its national debut at MHIA’s ProMat international exposition in January 2009 where it plans to emphasize the “lean and green” (i.e. ergonomic and energy efficient) benefits of overhead lifting to handle materials. Safe procedures for manual handling and ergonomic lifting that are designed to improve workplace safety and protect workers’ health are also on OA’s promotion agenda.

Material handling equipment that minimizes manual lifting and carrying prevents injuries. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that back injuries, primarily from improper lifting and carrying of light loads, cost American businesses $10 to $14 billion in workers’ compensation costs and nearly 100 million work days annually.

A world-leader in the production of ergonomic carts for moving and lifting material and equipment, DJ Products manufactures ergonomically-designed, energy-efficient electric and battery-powered cart pullers, pushers and scissors lifts. Already “lean and green,” DJ Products material handling equipment is built to be energy-efficient while maximizing the health and safety of your workers. Visit our website for complete information on DJ Products equipment for manufacturers, warehouses, logistics centers, retailers, hospitals and the hospitality industry.

Practical Benefits of Ergonomics

For American industry and business, the practical benefits of ergonomics are multi-fold. Upgrading your business with ergonomically-designed power mover decreases both the frequency and severity of workplace injuries. This decreases medical costs, disability insurance payments and absenteeism related to injury and recovery time. But there are significant benefits to choosing ergonomic equipment that go beyond the more obvious concerns with your bottom line.

By recognizing the importance of your employees’ health, safety and comfort through the installation of ergonomically-designed equipment, you place an emphasis on the quality of their worklife. The result is an increase in productivity, increase in morale and decrease in absenteeism that will improve both your profitability and ability to compete. Here’s how:

  • A company that shows it values its workers engenders good morale. Where morale is high, absenteeism is low. A satisfied workforce gives a company a significant competitive edge. When a company demonstrates concern for their employees’ well being, employees return the favor.

  • As tough economic conditions force many businesses to downsize and function with smaller staffs, the contribution of each individual worker becomes more valuable. Absenteeism puts an unfair burden on your entire workforce. Ergonomic equipment decreases absenteeism from injury and recovery, increasing productivity.

  • In an 8-hour shift, the average worker spends about 1.5 to 2.5 hours on breaks and non-job activities. Equipment that is frustrating or fatiguing to use results in more frequent breaks. Adaptable, easy-to-operate ergonomic equipment improves comfort and reduces fatigue. This allows workers to comfortably stay on the job longer, decreasing downtime. In a workforce of 100 employees averaging $12 per hour, just 5 more minutes of productive time per worker per day can add up to $50,000 annually (not considering overhead).

By recognizing the importance of ergonomics in the workplace, businesses can build worker morale, leading to an increase in efficiency, productivity and profitability.

Use Handy Calculator to Determine Your Ergonomic Needs

In our last few posts we’ve been talking about the importance of ergonomics in creating both a safe and healthy work environment and the benefits that can provide to your business. Ergonomically-designed equipment decreases the frequency and severity of workplace injuries, medical costs and disability payments, and absenteeism, while increasing employee morale, efficiency and productivity, and profitability.

With so many benefits, it pays a company to invest in ergonomically-designed equipment, but how can you determine your ergonomic needs? DJ Products provides a useful Ergonomic Load Calculator on our website. The calculator is designed to estimate the amount of horizontal force necessary to move wheeled loads in various workplace environments.

Easy to use, our calculator takes you through a series of questions regarding floor condition, terrain, footing, equipment condition, equipment configuration, use of assembly line when applicable, and load weight to determine the required force to move an average load. A second series of questions factors in human performance qualifiers such as proposed worker, frequency and distance each load will be moved, whether loads are pushed or pulled, and handle height. Using mathematic formulas, a Human Performance Capability is calculated that provides an ergonomic estimate of the amount of force that a single worker should apply to move the load. Calculations are provided for both initiating and sustaining equipment motion. A comparison of the calculated equipment force to the ergonomic limit of force allows ergonomists, health and safety officers, and other professionals to accurately evaluate the ergonomic needs of a company.

The program also offers helpful suggestions that can be used to improve workplace safety. For example, an ergonomic evaluation of a manually-wheeled pull-cart might recommend a specific caster size to reduce initiation force or improve pivoting. It might recommend a maximum weight load for the equipment being evaluated. It is always recommended that ergonomic solutions be immediately implemented wherever force exceeds capacity to prevent worker injury.

Ergonomic Material Handling Solutions Improve Productivity

In our last post we talked about coming trends in warehousing. More companies are starting to outsource certain functions, such as logistics, as part of a program to increase efficiency and improve productivity. Outsourcing allows you to focus on your primary business model instead of stretching your resources to include secondary but essential functions such as logistics. The astute businessperson will realize that outsourcing is but one element of what must be a multi-directional effort to tighten efficiency and improve productivity in these difficult economic times.

Making a careful assessment of material handling equipment usage and associated costs — both direct and indirect — can have a significant affect on your bottom line.

  • With the cost of diesel fuel and gasoline going through the roof, replacing outdated equipment with fuel-efficient electric and battery-powered equipment can save thousands of dollars in fuel costs.
  • Replacing bulking, difficult to move equipment with highly maneuverable powered carts and tugs can improve workplace safety and worker morale and decrease lost man-hours from absenteeism and injury.
  • Installing ergonomically designed pushers, pullers and carts can save thousands of dollars a year in decreased medical, insurance and disability costs resulting from musculoskeletal injuries.
  • Implementing ergonomic practices in the workplace can improve worker morale considerably while increasing efficiency and productivity significantly. Retraining staff to utilize recognized ergonomic practices generally produces an immediate savings from reduced worker injuries and associated medical costs.

DJ Products specializes in providing affordable ergonomic solutions to material handling applications. Our highly trained staff can assist you in assessing your material handling needs and design solutions tailored to the specific needs of your business. For more information, visit the DJ Products website.

Safety Factors Force Decline of Forklift Trucks

“When we think of unsafe operations, a fork lift truck tipping over is about as bad as it gets,” said Fork Lift Truck Association CEO David Ellison. “But it can and does get worse if the operator is not restrained. Indeed it gets a bloody site worse. Many people think this is something that couldn’t happen on their site … but we know it does … and more often than you would think!”

Ellison spoke those grim words in promotion of the European association’s 2008 Safety Conference. In the U.S., OSHA estimates that each year forklifts are responsible for 85 fatalities, 34,900 serious injuries and 61,800 non-serious injuries. Of the 855,900 forklifts in operation in the U.S., the Industrial Truck Association estimates that 11% will be involved in an accident this year. Since the useful life of a lift truck is 8 years, 90% of all forklifts will be involved in an accident during their useful life.

The major causes of forklift fatalities are:

  • 42% tipovers
  • 25% crushed between vehicle and a surface
  • 11% crushed between 2 vehicles
  • 10% struck or run over by a forklift
  • 8% struck by falling material
  • 4% fall from platform on the forks

For the past 20 years, forklifts have been the major cause of industrial deaths and accidents in the U.S. Nearly half of forklift fatalities (42%) occur in manufacturing facilities. Construction settings account for 24% of fatalities, followed by wholesale facilities (12.5%), transportation (11%), retail trade (9%) and mining (1.2%).

The likelihood of serious injury or death has spurred many manufacturers and businesses to limit and often entirely remove forklifts from their facilities. Motorized electric carts and tugs are able to perform most forklift tasks more efficiently, more economically and with much greater safety.

Body Posture Plays Significant Role in Ergonomic Design

Body posture affects the amount of force that must be exerted to move and maneuver industrial carts and equipment. The human musculoskeletal system functions like a complex system of mechanical levers. Posture determines the positioning of our joints which, in turn, determines the reach of each muscle and the force needed to exercise it. Ergonomic design seeks to produce maximum force from each exertion by optimizing body posture. In creating a more efficient piece of equipment, the goal of ergonomic design is to minimize wear and tear and the threat of injury to the human body.

Optimal body posture generally changes a piece of equipment is moved. The horizontal force necessary to put equipment in motion gives way to a more upright stance as less force is needed to keep it in motion. Handle placement can affect the amount of horizontal push a worker is able to supply. Any angle above or below the horizontal plane will diminish the amount of force a worker can produce. The greater the angle, the less direct force can applied to horizontal movement. Due to variations in worker size, adjustable handles or multiple handholds will allow optimal force production for a greater percentage of your workforce.

Foot positioning can also have a significant impact on the amount of force a worker can produce. The greatest push force is generated when the body is in a lunging posture with feet separated, one foot some distance ahead of the other. Because this position places the rear foot beyond the body’s center of gravity, it unbalances the body, placing workers at increased risk for falls and injury. The risk of serious injury increases if push force must be executed on either an incline or decline.

The use of electronic or motorized carts eliminates the burden of force and the risk of potential injury from your workforce. Equipment rather than the worker’s body provides the push force to necessary initiate and maintain movement. Optimal force can be applied regardless of worker size and strength, maximizing the efficient use of your workforce and optimizing task completion.

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.