The ABC of manual handling

The links between safe work practices and a productive and profitable workplace are well established. Legal and community attitudes have altered dramatically and management must find answers to manual handling problems.

Before buying equipment, the buyer must ask the following questions:

• Can the packaging size be altered to improve handling or decrease weight?
• How is the product handled, what are the start and end positions, working height, obstacles etc?
• What is the frequency of the lift/handling activity?
• Is it appropriate that a worker performs the task by hand, should equipment be supplied to assist or should it be automated?

If mechanisation is the answer then:

• Identify the major materials handling motions that will benefit from equipment purchase.
• These motions are lifting, repositioning, reorientation and you should attempt to eliminate or minimise the most common and difficult of these activities.
• Select a supplier prepared to work with you. Many manual handling problems require equipment to be customised for optimal results.

Common manuals handling equipment includes:

Lifting and levelling
Manual lifting equipment includes trolleys that use manual pumps, powered lifts and mobile pump-up scissor trolleys. These are ideally suited to loads below 250 kg that can be safely pushed around a work floor.

Powered lifting products use hydraulic, electric or air as motive power to lift the load with hydraulic lift tables being the most versatile and commonly used.

Hydraulic tables employ scissor mechanisms or column lifts. Capacities vary from 50 to 50,000 kg, lift heights from 0.5 m to several metres. Platform and control variations exist and scissor lifts can be easily integrated into production lines. Advantages of scissor lifts include durability and low cost versus electrical lifts.

Match the product to the application. Guidelines include:

• Only use mobile trolleys with lighter loads.
• For higher lifts the lift footprint is important. Small footprints require multiple scissors and can be unstable.
• Frequency of the lift and other special conditions. Lift cycles greater than 5 to 10 times per hour require high cycle modifications.
• If possible, trial the product.

Overhead handling: think above
An increasingly popular answer to manual handling problems is an overhead handling system. Ergonomically efficient cranes coupled with product manipulators and intelligent assist devices - IADs - have created new opportunities for solving handling dilemmas.

Overhead handling systems combine:

• Ergonomic workstation cranes. Much easier to move than 'I' beam cranes they are used to create ergonomic work cells. Workstation cranes have speed and positioning accuracy advantages compared to powered cranes and are preferred in high frequency work cells with loads less than 1½ tonnes.
• Hoist or Intelligent Assist Device. Varying types of hoists have been used for some time but currently there are hoists that include high-speed, accurately positioning IADs that act to provide a fast, effortless lifting force. Examples of these include the G Force and air balancers.
• Mechanical and vacuum end effectors - grippers and manipulators that safely grasp the product. Selection of the right end effector is critical when designing overhead handling systems and may require custom design.

Pallet handling equipment
Pallet dispensers can be manual or automatic, standalone or integrated into pallet loading systems. Wooden pallets are heavy and unwieldy and pose a significant manual handling risk to workers required to move them. A pallet dispenser and a simple pallet truck can eliminate this problem. Pallet Inverters rotate 2 tonne pallet loads. The reasons for doing this include transferring from hire to in-house pallets, rotation of products to prevent sedimentation and to quickly change over new for damaged pallets.

Automation
For many the ultimate manual handling solution is to automate production and packaging entirely. Automated systems combine many elements and are inevitably custom designed. Equipment must be fit for purpose and comply with OH&S and Australian manufacturing regulations. It should be easily maintained, regularly serviced and capable of meeting current and future production requirements.