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In the hospitality industry, holidays lead to a significant uptick in companies booking parties. After all, every business needs a place to celebrate the year in review and look forward to the year to come. Typically, that place is a hotel ballroom.

For retailers, the holiday season brings more sales, more deliveries, and, as a result, more waste. The problem grows in step with a larger retail environment; last holiday season, retail sales beat predictions by 5.6 percent. Most surprisingly, brick-and-mortar sales grew faster than they had the previous year, suggesting that e-commerce isn’t necessarily ending in-person purchases any time soon.

In the runup to 2018’s round of U.S. tariffs, many companies stockpiled vital materials and components to avoid higher rates. For some U.S. warehouses, that’s led to swelling stock and a proliferation of SKUs. Even when managers find ways to handle increased demand (some of which we discuss here[link to blog titled Tariffs, Stockpiling, and U.S. Warehouses: Finding Capacity in an Age of Pulled Forward Demand]), they’re still left with the challenge of managing increasingly complex inventory.

Lift trucks are getting more expensive, reports the news service Forklift Action. Several leading forklift brands announced price increases set to go into effect November 1. 

In a statement to Forklift Action, the companies attributed higher price tags to "steadily increasing costs from freight providers...and the ripple effect of recently imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum, and durable goods."

Electrical contractors can’t take the whole winter off. However, cold weather can create all sorts of safety problems for electricians — especially those who work outdoors, or in unfinished construction projects that lack heat.

Global trade norms changed dramatically in 2018. Multiple rounds of U.S. tariffs led to fears of rising material prices among U.S. manufacturers. Many companies behaved like any rational institution anticipating a time of scarcity: They stockpiled. The more shoreside materials they could import before the tariffs struck, the longer they’d be able to delay raising their own prices.

Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) programs represent a powerful strategy for limiting landfill-bound content in municipal waste systems. As residents respond to the incentives built into a PAYT strategy, though, haulers, material recovery facilities (MRF), and other stakeholders within the sustainable materials management stream must be prepared to absorb the changes.

October is home to not just one but two outreach efforts focused on eye injury prevention. The American Academy of Ophthalmology declares this the month Eye Injury Prevention Month, and the World Health Organization observes World Sight Day on the second Thursday, which will be October 11, 2018. 

Here in the middle of National Ergonomics Month, it's a great time to revisit our favorite warehouse ergonomics solutions. But it isn't just National Ergonomics Month. October 16 is also World Spine Day, an international event that raises awareness of spinal issues and back pain in particular.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, some employers, though not all, must maintain an official written fire prevention plan at all times. The key rule here is OSHA standard 1910.39, which states that "an employer must have a fire prevention plan when an OSHA standard in this part requires one." The standard goes on to list the minimum elements that the fire plan must contain.