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Feature Articles

Who Created OHSA, Why, and the Outcome

There was a significant reason Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1971. Too many Americans were dying on the job. In this Feature Article, we highlight the reason behind OSHA, which President signed the act into law, and the outcomes over the last 48 years that OSHA has been working to improve worker safety around the country. Read more...

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Warehouse Heat Retention

The cold winter months are upon us, and with them comes the potential for bottom-line profits to seep out your warehouse doors in the form of higher utility bills. Fortunately, there are several low-cost solutions to help keep warm air inside your warehouse and direct it where it is needed most. Read more...

Tax savings are still available on NEW and USED equipment, but it must be IN SERVICE by December 31, 2023. Learn more about Section 179 and potential tax savings for 2023. Read more...

Benefits of a Walkie-Rider

If you've never considered a walkie-rider in place of a traditional forklift or electric pallet jack, these benefits might be worthy of review. Read more...

Pre-Shift Inspections

Although they are required by law, pre-shift inspections have many benefits including, improved safety, performance and productivity. Learn how to conduct them properly.

Choosing Your Forklift Tires

Choosing the right forklift tires for your lift truck means a big difference in productivity, driver comfort and your bottom line.  This feature article highlights the differences in forklift tire compounds and helps you through the process of choosing the right tire for your application...Read more...

Battery & Charger Selection

Knowing your operation and selecting the correct battery and charger combination for your forklifts can mean thousands of dollars in savings or waste. This Feature Article helps you in the decision process. Read more....

Electric Fleet Converstion

Many companies are eliminating emissions, lowering operating costs and improving safety. Learn why we're your partner in fleet electrification. Read more...

3 Reasons to Convert to Electric

Electric forklifts are taking over. Find out why and the three main reasons that now is the best time to check them out. Read more...

Forklift Price vs. Total Cost

In this article we highlight some of the major variables that can make a big difference in the initial purchase price of your new forklifts compared to the total ownership cost over it's useful life. Read more...

Four Levels of Learning

Whether you're training a forklift operator or a new employee to perform their tasks, there are four levels the brain goes through before being able to do the task without giving it a conscious thought. Read more...

If Your Forklift Could Talk

Your forklifts and material handling equipment work hard, and sometimes don't get the attention they need. This month we compiled a list of the five most likely things your forklifts would tell you....if they COULD talk. Read more...

Four Decades of OSHA

Over 40 years ago OSHA was founded. Their goal was to make the workplace safer by setting standards that all companies must abide by. Fast forward to today and see the results this dynamic agency has had on worker safety. Read more...

4 Traits of Safety-Minded Companies

Time passes quickly, and initiatives that were once important standards become guidelines or even merely suggestions. How can we ensure that when we put safety measures in place, they will stay in place as employees come and go in a business climate that is constantly in flux? Read more...

Proper Fork & Chain Inspections

While OSHA requires that each be inspected, they do not give specifics on how to, or what to inspect.  We will provide you with some specific areas to inspect to be sure you are doing all you can to be certain your forks and chains are in safe operating order. Read more...

Training vs. Teaching

There are vast differences in teaching your forklift operators safe operating procedures and truly training them to operate safely. Learn, how we learn, and what the differences are. Read more...

Few things can cripple productivity like the flu, and the season is upon us. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people contract the flu, and the costs mount for them and your operation. Find out what the flu really costs us and how we can work to limit its effect on our material handling operations this season.

Summer is upon us, and heat can bring unexpected consequences for our operations. Heat illnesses, accidents and even death are frequently attributed to employees that don't protect themselves from the heat during summer.

Safety is one of the primary pillars of a productive and profitable material handling operation. Unfortunately, most small to mid-size companies to not have the resources for a safety and compliance manager, much less a safety department. OSHA has tools available to these companies, like yours, to help you not only gain compliance, but how to look at your operation with a “safety eye” and help you identify potential hazards before they become health, safety or legal issues.

A report generated by OSHA highlights the real costs associated with on the job injuries, who pays them and how this impacts the employee and taxpayers.

There are some obvious factors that can reduce the safe lifting capacity of your forklifts. There are others that can remain hidden. This Feature Article helps you identify these factors and ensure your lift truck operators are operating your lift trucks withing a safe operating range.

When you put a forklift to work, the equipment cost and maintenance is bore by the user. But how those costs are allocated and the financial impact varies from company to company.

The hot summer months are upon us. With increased heat and humidity workers become more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Workers who are not accustomed to working in the heat can quickly become ill and experience heat stroke, which can lead to serious illness and even death. There are a few things to keep in mind about heat-related illness and what you can do to help prevent it in your workers.

For decades, internal combustion engine forklifts have dominated market share in North America. Over the last five years or so, that is changing, for many reasons. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of switching to electric forklifts from internal combustion, which are...

OSHA and NIOSH have released several new resources to help you improve your aerial lift safety.  Like their forklift counterparts, operators of aerial lifts must be trained to operate the lifts under the conditions you intend to use them. Pre-shift inspections must also be done to ensure the aerial lift is safe to operate.

Electric forklifts continue to make great progress in terms of power, outdoor use and capacities. We've addressed the cost savings by switching to electric forklift in previous articles. Lower maintenance and energy costs as well as a cleaner environment are just a few of the benefits. However, all those cost savings can be greatly eroded by choosing the wrong battery and/or charger for your operation.

There are literally hundreds of things you can do to improve energy consumption in your facility. From the smallest gestures like turning off unused lighting to giant projects like installing solar panels, all your efforts go into improving the climate we live in as well as the atmosphere our employees work in every day. We've compiled a short list of things we think could benefit your warehouse or material handling operation.

In addition to training your forklift operators, what else can you do to ensure that your operators and pedestrians around them are safe? We found a list of some of the best practices that can help ensure safety in your material handling operation.

Violence in the workplace often erupts without warning, and can have tragic results. Taking steps to prevent these situations can improve safety in your workplace, improve employee satisfaction and lead to increased productivity. Conversely, ignoring potential hazards can result in employee injury, even death — and legal action at considerable costs to the company.

OSHA has outlined five steps you can take to identify and prevent these violent encounters before they happen. While they are not directly related to materials handling operations, we feel these guidelines can apply to a wide variety of organizations, including your company.

Establishing a fleet maintenance program that proactively maintains your equipment to maximize productivity takes just a bit of work. But with the right partner by your side the process can be much easier to set up and manage. Following are three tips we suggest in order to establish programs to maximize productivity and reduce your overall costs.

A new report generated by OSHA highlights the real costs associated with on the job injuries, who pays them and how this impacts the employee and taxpayers.

Training is one of the most important functions of any manager. From top to the bottom levels of an organization, employees that are well-trained to do their jobs perform them better, are more efficient and make greater contributions to the bottom line of the organization.

Like anything else in life, whether it’s your car, your home or even your body, planning and conducting preventive maintenance creates long-term benefits that are well worth the investment. Why would your forklift and other materials handling equipment be any different?

This guide, developed with assistance from OSHA's website will help guide you through complete and thorough pre-operational and operational inspections of internal combustion and electric forklifts.

Core values set the tone for the way your company operates. Being sure you have expressed core values and that everyone in your organization knows them can mean the difference in direction and success of your organization. Read what's important to us and why you might want to consider some core values for your company.

Whether you’re trying to improve productivity on your assembly line, in your materials handling operation or in your accounting department, there are a few things that you can do that transcend functional lines and apply to almost all individuals.

In 1972, the Occupational Health and Safety Act created OSHA as we know it today. This month, we take a look at who approved the act, why, and what has transpired in the more than four decades that the agency has been in operation.

Docks are very busy places and represent a significant risk for an accident or incident, particularly when during busy seasons.  There are some things you can do to reduce this risk and demonstrate the intention of creating a safe work environment for the employees that operate on or around your docks.

When you are purchasing a piece of equipment is being purchased, you obtain competitive quotes, verify specifications and generate a purchase order. For that matter, just about anything we purchase goes through the same process. However, there is much more to purchasing forklifts and other equipment.

Understanding how people learn and what it takes to become proficient at any task underscores the importance of a continual training program for your forklift operators or for anyone that's learning anything in your organization to help keep it running. 

Four Decades of OSHA: the Results - Although often maligned, history shows that when consistent safety standards are designed and enforced, good things happen with regards to safety in the workplace. Nothing is more important that making sure each of our employees return safely tomorrow, by keeping them safe today. Read the effect OSHA has had on workplace safety since 1970. 

Daily Pre-Shift inspections are a requirement by OSHA to ensure the lift truck that is about to haul around thousands of pounds, is safe to do so.  In addition to compliance, catching small service issues before they blossom into giant repair or incident headaches is a protection to your bottom line.

There is a distinct difference between teaching someone something, like safe forklift operation, and truly training them how to perform the function safely and efficiently. We have addressed this topic in our previously published “Safety Training vs. Teaching: Knowing the Differences.”  A robust, comprehensive and ongoing safety training program for your forklift operators provides you with not only protection from potential liabilities, but also enhances your operation. In this article we will address four of the major benefits of formalizing your forklift operator training program.

Purchasing a new forklift or other material handling equipment can be expensive, but that's just a fraction of what it costs to operate it efficiently—or inefficiently. Getting the most bang for your forklift buck means understanding the products you move and establishing baseline costs as a start. Here are 8 tips for optimizing your forklift fleet.

Getting hot under the collar is about as good for your forklifts as it is for you.  Heat results in increased engine wear, part failure and lift truck maintenance expenses. Like most other facets of your operation, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and keeping your engine operating at recommended manufacturer temperatures will improve your productivity and bottom line. 

It seems obvious but it's easy to overlook. Up front, the mast and the forks, there are four critical measurements. Read this month's feature article, find out what they are and how they can impact your facility's safety and costs.

There are plenty of simple, small things you can do to improve forklift safety in your facility. These include keeping the floor clean, installing mirrors at the ends of your aisles and prominently displaying safety posters. We have identified five best practices within companies that take forklift safety to the next level.
What are the Space Invaders and how can you fight them in your warehouse? Over time they can tend to take over. This article helps you identify a few of the major "crowding" culprits and what you can do to alleviate yourself of their nuisance.
While there are some light-duty applications that are a good fit for older model forklifts, most buyers should steer clear of these potential money pits.  But before you consider used equipment in lieu of a new forklift there are some things you want to consider. Find out what they are...
Once you purchase materials handling equipment, the challenge to minimize the cost of operating that equipment and maximize its useful economic life begins. Through our years of experience, we have implemented and seen results for many cost-lowering and productivity improving processes. This month's Feature Article highlights five things that we have found to universally achieve bottom-line improvements for our customers.

Like an annual trip to your local physician for a check-up, a well thought out Planned Maintenance agreement with a qualified and reputable service company can dramatically increase the longevity of your equipment as well as significantly reduce your operating costs.  Conversely, operating forklift equipment without planned maintenance or allowing an inexperienced company manage your program, can result in increased operating costs, downtime and reduced useful life of your forklifts. This article helps ensure you're selecting the right forklift service provider. Read the full article...

Proper forklift operator training to meet OSHA requirements consists of classroom instruction by a credible source, hands-on evaluation and equipment- and facility- specific training.  Most companies have a handle on the first two components.  In many cases, employers also follow up with specific training using the equipment in their facilities. However, all too often, companies ignore the final aspect of ensuring full compliance with OSHA requirements. Click the headline to read more.
We train forklift operators on a regular basis, and hopefully your forklift operators are trained properly.  But what about pedestrians working and visiting your facility? Do they know the potential dangers of forklifts and how to behave around them to minimize the potential for an accident? Our Feature Article highlights what you can do to improve pedestrian safety within your facility.