Accident Prevention Worth Its Weight 

The Problem 

The safety manager worries about twisted knees, broken ankles, medical bills, recovery periods, new recruits and overtime. He is not a coach, yet he has responsibility for 13 work teams. He is the safety manager for a company that is a leader in corn and flour tortilla production. With plants around the United States that produce 12 kinds of tortillas and a variety of tortilla chips, taco shells and snacks. 

Every day, thousands of pallets piled high with these products are shipped to stores around the country. However, the company had a serious problem: too many on-the-job injuries.

Pallet loading, which until recently was all done by hand, was a primary area of concern. Packed with bags of product, a plastic box called a tote can weigh as much as 40 pounds. Workers stack the containers six layers high on every pallet. Stacking the lower layers of totes required a lot of bending, and at every layer the employees carried full totes around to the other side of the pallet as needed. About 500 of their 4,000 employees load pallets.

An ergonomics consultant was hired to evaluate the problem and recommend a solution. 

The Solution 

The consultant and safety manager wanted a lift to keep pallets at a comfortable height. And since the designated area of the plant was a forklift-free environment, they had to be able to be loaded with a hand pallet jack. The solution was a PalletPal^® Roll-On Leveler with Turntable from Southworth.

The unit lowers all the way to the floor, designed for use with hand pallet trucks. The platform has a capacity of 2,500 pounds. Accessible from all sides, it can be raised/lowered as needed so that each tier of goods can be loaded/unloaded at the same height. Easily turned by hand, the rotating platform means workers can stay on the same side of the unit at all times. An electric motor drives the hydraulic pump that raises the platform when the operator steps on the “up” pedal. There is a “down” pedal for lowering. Descent halts  if someone’s foot enters any of the photoelectric “toe guard” beams around the base of the unit. 

The job of pallet loading is easier now—no question. The products come in on a conveyor belt at waist level, so there is hardly any  bending to load the totes. We’ve seen a decrease in injuries, overtime, and turnover.”