Posts from Marie Wiese
MHI has just released a video and infographic about manual materials handling ergonomics. MHI is the nation’s largest material handling, logistics and supply chain association. MHI offers education, networking and solution sourcing for members, their customers and the industry as a whole through programming and events.
On the infographic, MHI notes:
Ergonomics is more than a buzzword today - it is a movement. Nationally, our demographics confirm we are aging and in deteriorating physical shape. This impacts the workplace, and good employers must think of their businesses in terms of ergonomics. EASE is the group within MHI focused solely on making work easier for people by improving the work environment.
Get the MHI MMH Ergonomics Infographic Now!
Manufacturing/Distribution Plant Case Study – Increased Productivity & Employee Satisfaction with Ergonomic Casters.
The client's overall focus was to improve workplace ergonomics. The management team choose to take steps to implement proactive ergonomics. There was concern over the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Of particular concern was the assembly facility. They had documented that approximately 40-50% of injuries in the assembly plant resulted from musculoskeletal injuries. In addition, the goal was to also implement ergonomic solutions which would also increase efficiency and productivity.The client tested 3 different casters from 3 different vendors. Darcor's ergonomic casters reduced push pull forces significantly and received tremendous positive feedback from operators.
The client tested 3 different casters from 3 different vendors. Darcor's ergonomic casters reduced push pull forces significantly and received tremendous positive feedback from operators.
The switch to Darcor ergonomic caster resulted in significantly reductions in push/pull forces across the board.
Workers in manufacturing environments are prone to injury, especially musculoskeletal disorders. This is known as cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) and is prevalent in the manufacturing industry due to the type of day-to-day tasks completed by employees including: Repetitive actions, Awkward postures, High forces, and Exposure […]
we are often asked many questions about casters. The Darcor team recently presented a ErgoExpo Webinar and we got some great questions.
Our team is always happy to respond to questions about casters, and we do on a daily basis. We thought that we’d pull together a list of the best caster questions and answers to share including caster topics like:
• Environmental considerations,
• Locking functionality,
• Caster inspection and maintenance,
• Number of casters,
• Positioning of casters,
• Caster material,
• Swivelling casters, and more.
The 2019 Applied Ergo Conference (AEC) is set to run March 25 – 28, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year is the 22nd annual event. As always, the Darcor team is excited to take part.
The Applied Ergonomics Society (AES) is a worldwide resource for ergonomics professions dedicated to improving workplace performance, quality, sustainability and employee availability. AES supports the Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference and Expo, a conference where attendees gather from around the world to share best practices with other professionals in ergonomics, healthcare, safety, human resources and risk management.
Darcor has been proud to be part of the ergonomics advancement and has developed free downloads for ergonomists and management teams seeking to reduce injuries through implementing workplace ergonomics best practices including the Guide to Workplace Ergonomics, which specifically focuses on overexertion injuries that occur in the workplace, and the Economics of Ergonomics, which helps organizations truly understand the financial risks associated with workplace overexertion injuries and how to assess and reduce that risk by implementing proactive ergonomics programs.
As AEC 2019 approaches, we've put together a list of the must-see workshops and speakers - check them out!
The Institute of Caster & Wheel Manufacturers (ICWM) and MHI have just released a free download that provides a quick snapshot of casters. The download highlights what a caster is, types of caster wheel materials, caster types, benefits of casters, history of casters, interesting facts about casters, and resources and caster testing and design standards links. Get the ICWM / MHI Casters Download Now!
An increasing portion of manual material handling involves pushing and pulling. Yohann Printer and Tom Albin will discuss designing carts to keep manual operating forces within safe, recommended limits to reduce risk of injury and to facilitate operational efficiency. They will also cover a new clarification of the ISO 11228-2 force measurement protocol, which is intended to facilitate direct comparison of cart design factors’ effect on operating forces.
Cart design factors to be covered will include visibility, handle height, operating forces, caster selection and caster placement. Finally, you’ll hear case studies of the effectiveness of employing good ergonomics in cart design.
Webinar takeaways
• Illustrate how cart design impacts back and shoulder injury risk during MMH tasks
• Use task analysis to understand MMH task requirements
• Optimize cart designs for both the task and the user
• Gain practical guidelines for cart design
Register now for this free webinar!
The Darcor team just came back from another exciting year at The National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo which was held in late August 2018 in Las Vegas. As always, there were some great presentations and products to see.
Ergonomists visiting the Darcor booth remarked that they were excited to see a booth focused on ergonomic products specific to industrial environments.
At the Darcor booth, we introduced visitors to our new caster system coming out in the latter half of 2018. It is a positional lock system for casters which allows the operator to engage the lock without bending. The new system features a foot pedal mounted at bottom of cart and is spring-loaded. The pedals can be mounted anywhere on the cart, so it can be positioned in a customized manner to reduce the amount of walking around the cart to find the locking system. The system reduces the need for frequent and repetitive bending, which can be an ergonomic risk.
The 2018 National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo is right around the corner. The show is being held August 21-24, 2017 at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.
Over the past 20+ years, The National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo has become one of the premier ergonomics-focused events in the world, with recent focus on safety and workplace ergonomics. Which means that anyone who is looking to improve their industrial safety and ergonomics should consider attending this event or tuning into the ErgoExpo webinars.
The Darcor team is looking forward to attending and checking out some of the speakers and sessions scheduled at the ErgoExpo this year. Here are the top 5:
MHI Solutions Magazine recently published an article written by Jean Feingold which focused on ergonomic industrial cart and caster solutions. The article highlights some often overlooked cart and caster ergonomic considerations in the manual material handling industry.
Feingold interviewed some leaders in the field of industrial ergonomics including Terry Parmelee of Kinetic Technologies and Lui Dilauro of Darcor Limited,
Read on to check out the highlights and read the complete article.
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