Quality Castors Reduce Manual Handling Injuries

By Author: Louise Horne
Total Articles: 15
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Roll Cages with castors are used within the storage and distribution of goods, most commonly within the food and drink industries. Essentially a roll cage is half the size of a standard pallet, mounted upon castors with a wire cage, suitable for the transport of a variety of goods. Often these wire cages on castors have adjustable shelves within them and the complete roll cage can be folded up and disassembled for storage. This collapsible feature is proving to be essential within many distribution and retail outlets, as the roll cages can be stacked together, similar to shopping trolleys at a supermarket.

Space saving roll cages on castors can either be three or four sided and are available in a variety of heights. Castors are attached to the roll cages to make them more manoeuvrable, but also to reduce the effort required in moving these heavy loads. It has proven to be difficult to establish the number of roll cages mounted on castors used within the United Kingdom; however recent estimates are that there are several million. As each cage is fitted with four castors, this means there are potentially millions of castors ...
... moving goods within the food and drink industries all over the UK.

A recent Health and Safety Executive report highlights 30 percent of all injuries reported to them were the result of incorrect manual handling. On further analysis one fifth of these injuries are a direct result of pushing and pulling roll cages on castors, racks with castors, and similar transportation equipment. It seems that many of these musculoskeletal injuries are a direct result of human error rather than equipment failure. In the rush to get jobs done many roll cages are overloaded, pulled over slopes, fall off lorries tail lifts and in the worst cases crush hands, legs and other body parts.

The Health and Safety Executive site in their report, some design features to help reduce injuries. One of the major ones is to limit loads and load heights stacked in the cages. However they also mention a number of castors features which should be adhered to. The Health and Safety Executive recommend using larger diameter castors wheels to make the roll cages easier to push. The age old rule of thumb is the larger the wheel the easier it is to push. Castors on roll cages tend to be, on average, housing 100mm diameter wheels. The Health and Safety Executive recommend installing castors with 125mm diameter wheels, making the cages easier to move and less sensitive to rough floor conditions.

The Health and Safety Executive also recommend using castors with hard wheels, such as nylon castors. Not only are they strong, these nylon castors can take up to 300 kilogram's each. Alternatives to nylon castors are polyurethane castors. They offer a quieter movement and produce less vibration on rough surfaces. The importance of castors with bearings is also highlighted as again this reduces the rolling resistance of the castors and makes the roll cage easier to push and pull. They also bring to mind the importance of having braked castors as these prevent the cages moving and rolling off lorry tail lifts. So in conclusion, in order to reduce injuries sustained from improper use of roll cages the Health and Safety Executive highlight the importance of ‘ good quality castors', which are well maintained, and are always replaced when damaged.

Castors have been our primary business for the last 40 years. Our Blue Elastic Rubber Castors & Wheels are utilised in a wide variety of industries, along with our Tube Fittings and Adjustable Feet. Whether you are a hospital requiring a Medical Castor such as Non Marking Rubber Castor, shop fitters wanting a Plastic Castor, food manufacturers requiring Heat Resistant Castors, a theatre requesting a Scene Shifter or a garden centre looking for Garden Equipment Castors we can meet all your need!We sell a range of castors for different applications, including industrial and retail areas. Please visit our website at http://www.rosshandling.co.uk for further information.