The beverage delivery person unloads various cases of beverages from the
delivery truck. Delivery trucks are
generally tall, with deep and high cargo bays. The bays are often seven feet high,
40 inches wide and 40 inches deep.
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Fig. 1: Elevated reach.
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Potential
Hazard:
- Employees must perform repeated, extended, and elevated reaches
(Fig. 1) to
access and lift product out of the truck bays.
Possible Solutions:
- When accessing bays high off the ground and
bays over truck wheels; provide a ladder–like device that can be attached to the bays.
The employee can then climb the ladder to pull cases
down. The employee can also set cases on the ladder,
using it as a platform.
Then when the employee stands on the ground he/she can
lift the case from the platform.
- Provide a pullout step (Fig. 2). This platform allows easier access to the
packages stored high in the bay (Fig.3), which reduces the
stress to the shoulders
and back.
- Provide a portable platform that elevates employees. Suggested dimensions
are two feet by seven or eight inches by two feet. The
platform can be covered with slip resistant material
to control slipping.
- Whenever possible, use two-person
delivery teams. Two-person delivery teams will provide
periods of lifting and non-lifting. Employee #1 can unload the truck
while employee #2 can roll the hand truck with cases to the
vendor. The employees can then rotate tasks every hour.
- Allow employees who load delivery
trucks to place full kegs or heavy containers in the
first tier of the lower bays. This decreases both the
extended reach by employees unloading the delivery
truck and the vertical distance the beverages must fall.
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Use an articulated arm or other lifting
mechanism to lift, lower and position heavy objects. A small
portable forklift such as the one shown at the right
(Fig. 4) can be used to remove pallets from the
delivery truck, move pallets to a convenient location
for off loading, and to position the load so it can be
handled at about waist height for most lifts.
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Fig. 2: Pullout step.
Fig. 3: Platform allowing for easier access to the packages.
 Fig. 4: Employee utilizing a small portable forklift to remove pallets.
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Fig. 5: Extended reach to open/close bay doors. |
Potential
Hazard:
- The employees use repeated, extended
and elevated reaches (Fig. 5) to open and close the
large and heavy bay
doors. These doors may have to be opened and
closed several times with each delivery for security
reasons.
Possible Solutions:
- Whenever possible, use two-person delivery teams. Two-person
delivery teams provide load security thus eliminating
repeated opening and closing of the bay doors. A two-person delivery team also allows
one
employee to be positioned inside the bay to hand a load to
the second employee standing on the ground. This reduces the
vertical distance any one employee lifts a load and
controls extended reaches.
- Use an articulated arm or other lifting
mechanism to lower and position heavy objects.
- Make sure doors are maintained and damaged
doors are repaired. A properly functioning bay door should
require only a few pounds of force to open.
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Potential
Hazard:
- Employees must lift
materials from the bay and
place them to low location
on hand trucks as shown
(Fig. 6). Pushing items in
the weight range of an empty
keg can lead to shoulder and
upper arm injuries.
Fig. 6: Bending the torso when unloading product. |
Possible Solutions:
- Educate employees on the basics of body
biomechanics and the importance of maintaining the
body in an ergonomically neutral position. Generally,
the torso should not be bent more than 6 to
10 degrees from vertical. An employee should be able to
perform the task with the elbows in close to the torso.
- Use a small portable forklift such as that shown above
(Fig. 4) to reduce the number of times that deep torso bending
is needed since larger quantities of material may be able to
be transported directly to cooler or store shelves.
- See Solutions
specific to Hand Trucks for more ideas on how to
minimize bending the torso.
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Fig.
7: High reach for product.
Fig. 8: Hand truck ramp.
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Potential
Hazard:
- The truck used for delivery requires the
employee to reach up and pull beverages down (Fig. 7), or lift the load from
high elevations to the
ground. It also requires the employees to lift empty containers up into the truck. These
activities put considerable stress on the shoulders,
elbows and low back.
Possible Solutions:
- Provide a ramp so that employees can use a hand
truck (Fig. 8).
- Use an articulated arm or other lifting
mechanism to lift, lower and position heavy objects. A small
portable forklift such as the one shown above
(Fig. 4) can be used to remove pallets from the
delivery truck, move pallets to a convenient location
for off loading, and to position the load so it can be
handled at about waist height for most lifts.
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