With manual handling responsible for over a third of workplace injuries that require three or more days off, Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks highlight the benefits of electric hand pallet trucks in reducing strain on the workforce.
Stewart Gosling, Sales Director at Red Diamond Distribution, the exclusive UK importer of Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks, said: “Shifting loads over 500kg in the workplace can easily put you on the wrong side of official guidelines. Hand pallets are the biggest growth area in the sector, but anyone running manual trucks should be aware of the long-term effects.”
The HSE Guidelines give 20kg for men and 15kg for women as acceptable figures for the effort needed to start moving a load from stationary, but independent research of hand pallet trucks showed an average effort of 23.3kg from stationary for a 500kg load, and 49.6kg for a load of 2000kg – over 2.5 times the guidelines.
If operatives regularly use hand pallet trucks, tswitching to a powered version can greatly reduce the chance of worker injury. Unlike conventional hand pallet trucks, the Mitsubishi PBPL features a 48-volt Lithium-Ion power source for electric driving and lifting functions as well as manual lowering.
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