Monthly Archives: December 2017

General Safety Issues

Material Handling Tips for Safe and Efficient Work Performance

Material Handling Tips for Safe and Efficient Work Performance

The way materials are managed in a warehouse determines operational efficiency and profits. A poorly organized warehouse with wrong shipments results in too much or too little inventory that is being over-handled. When too much weight is being handled manually, workers can become excessively fatigued, maximizing the risk of injuries and minimizing productivity. This creates the need for a well-managed warehouse that is ergonomically designed to ensure worker safety and efficiency.

Potential Hazards for Workers Handling Materials Manually

Lifting and carrying bulky objects is a major factor that is responsible for back injuries since it involves lot of bending, twisting and turning. Improperly stacked materials and falling objects also pose hazards to worker safety. Lifting loads that are either too large or too heavy can also result in strains and sprains. Cutting ties wrongly and securing devices incorrectly can invite cuts and bruises. Injuries also occur due to exposure to moving machinery parts, collisions and nip points. In fact, according to a study published by the National Safety Council, material handling alone accounts for 20-40% of all occupational injuries. But all of this can be avoided when supervisors train workers on proper techniques and enforce the best practices that minimize risk and maximize efficiency.

How to Improve Material Handling Quality, Worker Safety and Efficiency at the Same Time

Protect your employees from injuries with well-designed operations that are both safe and efficient. Review the following 10 areas and use the insights to redesign tasks and reduce the risk of material handling:

  1. Instead of pushing, pulling, lifting, and carrying equipment manually, use hand trucks, slides, lift trucks and conveyor belts.
  2. Reduce the force needed for moving the equipment and loads.
  3. Keep the load small and reduce the distance between the hands and the body when pushing and pulling loads.
  4. When carrying load, provide grips and handles for comfort and safety.
  5. Any load that needs lifting or lowering should be kept between the shoulder and the knuckle.
  6. Bending can be easily eliminated by placing materials at work level.
  7. Twisting can also be eliminated by providing adequate space for the entire body to turn.
  8. If objects are being handled manually, reduce their size, keep the load close to the body, and eliminate all reaches that go beyond 16 inches.
  9. When pushing and pulling objects, reduce the distance and lessen the force.
  10. Ensure that the loads are carried while keeping arms straight down.

Every worker should be specifically educated on handling oddly-shaped objects that are bulky and they should be directed on safe practices for handling heavy objects.

The Importance of Using the Right Material Handling Equipment

Material handling equipment is available in a wide variety ranging from robust lifting platforms to heavy-duty conveyor belts. There is a specific solution for every conceivable set of material handling requirements. While manual material handling is laborious, risky, and time-consuming, using the right material handling equipment makes the task quick, efficient, safe, and easy. It not only reduces the risk of injury when carrying heavy items but also eliminates the possibility of musculoskeletal problems. When it comes to safety, conveyor belt systems bring massive benefits for handling various weight loads of all sizes and styles. Apart from conveyor belts systems, material handling equipment is also available in the form of storage equipment likes shelves, racks, pallets, and containers, automated equipment for handling moving materials and bulk material equipment like trucks, drums, silos, and grain elevators.

An important thing to ensure when handling automated equipment is to provide proper training to employees. When operators know how to handle the equipment safely and correctly, no damage is caused and efficiency is improved.

Author Bio:

Kevin Hill heads the marketing efforts at Quality Scales Unlimited in Byron, CA. Besides his day job, he loves to write about the different types of scales and their importance in various industries. He also writes about how to care for and get optimized performance from different scales in different situations. He enjoys spending time with family and going on camping trips.

General Safety Issues, Uncategorized

4 Most Important Tips for Fire Safety

4 Most Important Tips for Fire Safety

Whenever a fire breaks out at home, it is best to leave the place as early as possible. However, there are some things to remember and more importantly to follow, while escaping the catastrophe. This post will explain, step-by-step, what to do in case of fire.

What should you do When Fire Breaks Out at Your Workplace/Home?

There are several things that can lead to a house fire. However, what matters the most is that how you can save yourself when you are stuck in such situation. How? Let’s have a look.

  1. Keep Your Cool

The most common, or we may say the natural reaction of anyone, who is stuck in a fire is getting panic. This is exactly what you have to avoid. DO NOT PANIC! This is because, when you go into the panic state, your brain stops working, and you don’t know how to get out of the situation. So, the very first thing that you should do is KEEP YOUR COOL! This will allow you to think of ways of saving yourself. Some of these ways are:

  • Call 911 for help, and tell them your location.
  • Don’t have access to the phone? Not a problem, you can yell for help.
  • Keep the smoke out by plugging clothes, or blankets to any vents or cracks.

Once you have a clear and calm head, you can think of the second point below.

  1. Plan Your Escape Route

Now, you need to identify all the exits of your home, so that you can plan your escape route. See? This is why you need to keep your head cool to remember all the possible escape routes, such as a back door, front door, or emergency exit. Once you are ready with all the possible routes, decide which route you are going to follow. However, always have a backup route, so that if the decided route is blocked by fire, you can immediately jump to plan B (second route), without wasting much time.

Is there a specific technique to follow, while actually escaping the catastrophe? Yes, there is. This brings us to our next important point.

  1. Get Down, and Crawl

When a fire breaks out, the smoke rises up to the ceiling. Thus, there is some breathable air near the floor surface. Besides this, the temperature goes on increasing towards the ceiling. This means that the temperature of the floor is lower than that towards the ceiling. So, it is strongly recommended that you get down on your knees, and crawl your way to escape. Another thing you need to remember while crawling is that keep your nose covered with a piece of towel or cloth. This will stop the smoke from entering your body, which can make you dizzy and pass out.

Are you stuck in an apartment, several floors up, and want to go down? In such cases, always remember the following point.

  1. Strictly, No Elevator Please!

This is the most important point to remember. An elevator is not the option for coming down in case of fire. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. It is an electrical device, which can fail during a fire, or worse can itself catch fire. So, there are two things that can happen, when you choose the elevator – either you’ll get trapped, or if the elevator gives out, you’ll enjoy your fall several floors down, along with it. Thus, it is strongly recommended to use the emergency staircases instead.

You need to bear all these points in your mind, which will help you save yourself as well as other, during a fire. In addition to the above-mentioned steps, there are various fire protection products that you can easily depend on. These include gloves, fire extinguishers, etc. It is important that you source these products from a reliable supplier like GND Consulting and Supply.