Articles

Utility workers often spend time underground, in the field, or otherwise out of the office — that’s part of the job description, after all. Unfortunately, that means that they’re not always available to accept deliveries, and for many operations, this leads to significant productivity losses.

Lift tables play an important role in modern industry. They’re fairly simple devices from a technical standpoint — most use a double scissor lift mechanism to position loads at an appropriate working height — but they’ve helped to prevent countless injuries while improving throughput in thousands of businesses.

When workers are tasked with moving industrial boxes and cartons via their own manpower, injuries are practically unavoidable. Box lifters, carton handlers, and general duty material handling equipment create a better atmosphere for work by ensuring proper ergonomics. The right tools prevent musculoskeletal disorders while dramatically improving productivity.

Nearly every phase of the recycling process requires heavy lifting. That means that recycling — while a crucial consideration for manufacturers of all sizes — carries significant ergonomic risks for operations that run their own recycling programs, in-house and onsite. Smaller manufacturers also need to take special care to implement practices that keep workers safe from musculoskeletal injuries, even if they’re just moving recyclable materials from the line to a dumpster.

Cut-to-length wire and cable distributors fill orders of all sizes. For the largest of these — which compound the respooling challenge with the size and weight of reels themselves — industry-standard equipment leads to considerable efficiency losses. Overhead, shaftless cable spooling machines provide the solution.

For manufacturers, compliance with California Proposition 65 can be a frustrating and confusing process. The law requires businesses to clearly identify consumer products that contain chemicals “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.” Typically, this means affixing an appropriate warning label to the product in question.

Waste management is a constant, no matter what type of facility you work in. But not all trash cans are suitable for every application; a good industrial trash can will be very different than a desk-side waste-paper basket.

Waste haulers may ultimately handle recycling and landfill materials, but industrial facilities still need plenty of their own professional waste equipment to collect and store materials until the hauler can cart it away. Every industrial facility needs the following pieces of waste equipment:

Health care waste exposes hospital workers to greater risks than more typical waste-streams, and the staff who regularly handle, clean up, and dispose of these materials bear the brunt of the hazard. Contact with medical waste can lead to injury, exposure to toxic substances, and even infections of all kinds.

Since its inception, the modern global recycling industry has developed a worldwide infrastructure. In the U.S., recyclables are separated out at material recovery facilities (MRFs), packed into bales, and sent to other nations, which house the world’s processing capacity. More often than not, until recently, that meant China.