For any brewery - large or small - safeguarding the health and safety of your employees while they are handling your product must always be a priority. There are several things to consider when choosing the best equipment for the job, whether it's moving cases with hand trucks or hoisting kegs with power lifters.
Often a simple hand truck is enough when it comes to transporting materials and product safely and efficiently. These basic tools of the trade are designed to minimize physical strain that comes with the repetitive bending and lifting of manual handling.
Hand trucks typically use standard designs and composition, but did you know that many quality brands offer customizable features? You can choose the options that: 1) best serve your load requirements and 2) best suit your operators' ergonomic preferences to optimize safety and prevent injury.
Here are some options to consider when choosing your next hand truck:
- Composition: Lightweight, durable aluminum is often a good choice for home and commercial environments. Be sure to know the size and weight range of your loads and then match them to the truck's published load capacities. Putting more weight on a truck than it's rated to handle can cause dangerous tipping, injury to the person handling it and damage to the product itself. For maximum strength to handle the heaviest loads, consider a long-lasting frame that also contains steel or magnesium and features molded polymer cross bars.
- Frame: Consider the size, shape and weight of your loads as well as your operator's physical build when picking the frame's height and shape - straight or curved.
- Handle: Choose a handle's position (horizontal or vertical) and grip based on the user's personal comfort and gripping preferences. Be sure to take into account all steering requirements for your various transit routes.
- Nose: Nose plates are often die-cast as a popular, lightweight option; or consider extruded aluminum or steel to serve a variety of load sizes and complicated delivery patterns.
- Wheels: The bigger the wheel, the heavier the truck, but also the better its maneuverability. Eight- or 10-inch are the most widely used and can be made from lightweight, smooth-rolling mold-on rubber to more durable, shock-absorbing pneumatic, balloon cushion or microcellular composition for challenging surfaces.
- Accessories: Consider adding vertical straps, stair climbers, folding noses, frame extensions, keg hooks, wheel guards, bags and anchors to ensure the safest and most efficient load distribution for your team.
Interested in learning more about material handling solutions? Millcraft Beverage Solutions offers the full line of Magliner® equipment to help you navigate the in's and out's of moving your beverage safely and securely. Just ask.
Written by Susan Morgan