Most of the time, we talk about ergonomic motorized equipment for manufacturing, healthcare, or warehouse applications. Those are often the most obvious industries where motorized carts and tuggers appear necessary. However, most forget that musculoskeletal injuries can happen anywhere people are moving heavy loads on wheels. Pushing overloaded carts up and down the halls of an often carpeted office building, for example, can cause MSDs that are just as serious as what is commonly experienced in an industrial setting. So what kinds of every day office labor would require the help of ergonomic motorized equipment?
Moving Mail with Motorized Carts
Specialty motorized carts exist for the express purpose of transporting mail in an office environment. Electro Kinetic Technologies offers them here , as a matter of fact. It may not seem obvious, but moving a large number of mail totes and parcels, even on a manual cart, can cause undue stress on the body, resulting in musculoskeletal injuries over time. Motorized mail carts allow office employees to safely transport mail without having to worry about the consequences of delivering heavy packages and bundles of envelopes.
Moving Office Equipment and Supplies with Motorized Carts
Even offices require some fairly heavy duty equipment. Printers, desktop computers, and servers built for commercial use are heavy enough to make carrying them around the office not only difficult, but seriously hazardous. Just like a large amount of mail and parcels, even pushing printers, computer supplies, beverage delivery inventory, larger trash & recycling containers, and boxes of paper records on a manual cart can create injury. However, using a standard motorized cart allows for easy transport of heavy office equipment without the added risk of musculoskeletal injury. Even employing a single tugger on existing manual carts would be much safer, though that particular solution may not function well in tight elevators or hallways.
It’s also common in office environments for janitorial staff and other support staff to routinely transport office furniture, such as desks, cubicle components, file cabinets, etc., wherever they are needed. As a result of these technological and structural needs of modern businesses, it is not safe to rely on the strongest folks in the workplace to do the literal heavy lifting without causing them potentially serious injury to their musculoskeletal systems. Injury could result either from a single push, pull, turn of a cart, or from repetition over time. In order to prevent these kinds of injuries from developing over time, much like carpal tunnel or back problems from sitting in the wrong kind of office chair, offices need to assess their risk of creating MSDs just like manufacturing and material handling businesses do.
If you’re ready to investigate safety at the office beyond ergonomic keyboards and desk chairs, consider scheduling a walk-through of your business, and let the experts help you find safer, more efficient ways of doing business, wherever you work. If you’re interested in connecting with Electro Kinetic Technologies in particular, contact us here and we’ll get you started on building an ergonomic workplace.
