Hurricane proof
January 1st 2007

With manual handling safety in the workplace ever increasing in importance, it is vital that you have the correct equipment to reduce the risks. Southworth Handling looks at where to get the best advice and the most suitable solutions With manual handling having a higher profile than ever before, industry must take this workplace safety issue seriously. The solution is to simply provide equipment to limit and even eliminate manual handling.

Workplace injuries account for more than just "lost man hours" the associated litigation and settlements are far more expensive than the solution.

Site inspections by Health & Safety Executive (HSE) officers are becoming more frequent and, for companies without provision for equipment to reduce manual handling concerns, there is no sympathy from the inspectorate.

Complacency from industry toward personnel health and safety issues is fortunately rare, however the number of companies lagging behind in providing suitable equipment to limit manual handling is still too large.

Manual handling in the modern workplace is sometimes unavoidable but injuries are totally unacceptable and also easy to avoid. There is plenty of help available from the HSE advice service and "download" material on its website.

There is a great deal of equipment on the market designed to minimise and even eliminate manual handling and it is important to gain help and advice as to what equipment might be best suited to individual requirements.

First you must highlight the area of concern isolate it and work on suitable ways to find a solution.

Specialist consultants offer help and advice on these issues, but this advice is sometimes no less biased than that offered by the companies selling equipment.

The HSE offers a very good help and advice service. The same officers who are so feared in industry can give simple and unbiased advice on the right equipment and lead you to a range of suppliers who can provide this.

Alternatively some of the companies selling equipment offer a solutions service, which involves a combination of site visits, discussions with staff and a report detailing the best solution in each case for individual manual handling concerns. At the same time it might be that the representative of that company can offer free opinions and advice and even quote equipment for simpler applications.

In this way the solution can be provided without the need for an expensive consulting period, thus giving the customer a much more cost effective solution.

Southworth Handling is such a company, using its experience to offer simple advice on manual handling related workplace solutions. Southworth's range of products includes scissor lift platforms, vacuum lifters, crane jibs as well as specialist roll and drum handling products.

Outside this product range Southworth can also source specialist designs and products to handle individual manual handling applications. By carrying out modifications to standard product, companies like Southworth Handling can also keep end costs to a minimum and provide a tailor made product at a more affordable level.

It is important when providing solutions that everyone is involved in the specification and build process, in this way mistakes can be avoided and development of the finished product is faster too.

Southworth specialises in working direct with the customer and this means often involving the operators in the design and development stage of the product.

Always look for a supplier who can offer more than a simple sales outlet. The advice must be simple and easy to follow and the solutions must also be easy to use and improve the operators work pattern. Most good solutions will improve productivity and working efficiency, this will in turn lead to less injury risks and reduced down time.

Hurricane proof Stertil is to launch the latest in its range of high-speed Rapid-Roll doors at IMHX 2007. The Rapid- Roll 600 has been developed to cope with the most demanding environments and intensive traffic and will be showcased for the first time at IMHX, at Birmingham's NEC from 13th – 16th March.

The Rapid-Roll 600 has a modular construction. Designed to cope with heavy traffic levels and tough conditions both inside and out, the Rapid-Roll 600 is weatherresistant and has a wind resistance in accordance with EN12424, class 3 – in other words, up to hurricane force! With an opening speed of up to 3.2 metres per second, the new 600 is fast and, because the door curtain is fully tensioned at all times when moving, safe opening and closing is guaranteed.

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