Avoid repetitive strain injury in your employees by investing in lifting solutions
Pallet stackers are the must have equipment for a wide variety of industries. Used to stack, consolidate and pick up flat boxes that support goods in a careful, stable manner while being lifted, they are invaluable to retailers, warehouses, farms, shipyards and other industrial practices. Whilst they are primarily used to lift objects many times the human body weight, they are also incredibly useful when preventing severe back injuries.
Manually handling and stacking empty pallets requires high forces and poor postures and movements. This can cause musculoskeletal injuries, particularly to the back, shoulders, wrists and forearms. Injuries can occur suddenly or develop gradually over time.
It is therefore important that you choose the right pallet stacker. There are electric and manual variations as well as many different designs. When manually moving pallets, it is recommended not to move more than 10 a day due to the serious health repercussions. If there are a greater number of pallets, it is definitely worth investing in a forklift truck to offer a wider remit of material handling solutions.
There is however a wide variety of material handling equipment that will come in handy when looking to handle goods. Scissor lifts offer a wider range of mobility and unlike forklifts (and depending on the size) wont drain on your electricity bill. Freedom Stackers offer a space saving alternative to forklifts, whilst still supplying the height range given by forklifts. The Freedom stacker offers load capacity of 260kg and can raise objects to a height of 1.6metres. The key usp of this product is its ability to fit standard doorways whilst losing non of its required specialisations.
Whilst the freedom stacker is electrically operated, manual lifters such as Voyager Manual Stacker and scissor lifts offer a greater range of mobility in that they don’t have to be near a plug or have their batteries recharged in order to operate. However, since they are battery operated it is important that the battery is properly maintained and adequate time for charging and cooling the battery is given. The time needed will depend on the type and model of pallet stacker used, however it usually takes no more than 16 hours.
With machinery however, it is always important to check the relevant health and safety regulations in order to avoid hefty lawsuits from potential accidents. On the whole though, manual handling legislations recommend offering lifting solutions to employees, as it is proven to dramatically reduce the chance of back related injuries, thereby improving the efficiency of your work force.
