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Penny Hydraulics Gas Bottle Crane Helps Eliminate Risk of Workplace Injuries

By Richard Short, sales director, Penny Hydraulics

Rules, regulations and guidelines related to manual handling are getting more stringent. What was commonly accepted little more than a decade ago is now prohibited by new legislation. The challenge facing many businesses handling lpg gas bottles and related items is how to comply with the current requirements and provide a safer working environment for their employees without overburdening themselves with excessive cost or technical complexity.

The latest Health & Safety Executive (HSE) figures show that around 34 million working days were lost in 2007/8 through work related illness and that eight million of these were caused by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as back and upper limb pain. Around 35 per cent of the most serious cases that led to more than three consecutive days off work were caused by handling, lifting or carrying, and 27 per cent were caused by slips and trips, with the average time off around nine days. More generally, the HSE estimates that between one and 1.5 million working days are lost each year because of manual handling.

One of the weapons in the fight against workplace injuries is to reduce or remove the risk. For manual handling of lpg cylinders, the simplest way is to eliminate the task. This is clearly not practical in many cases, so the next best option is to provide employees with an alternative method of lifting and handling. If, as another HSE statistic suggests, around 47 per cent of the workforce has a job that involves manual handling, this could be one of the most important health and safety decisions a company can take.

Current regulations require that employers avoid the need for hazardous manual handling “so far as is reasonably practicable”. There are no set limits for the maximum weight that can be lifted safely, but the HSE recommends that men should not lift more than 25kg to any height under any circumstances (women no more than 13kg), which is much less than the weight of most lp gas bottles.

These guidelines are for infrequent operations – fewer than 30 operations per hour – where work is reasonably paced, adequate pauses or use of different muscles are possible, and the load is not supported by the handler for any length of time. The maximum recommended weights are reduced significantly if operations are more frequent. Although these are not ‘limits’, working outside them is likely to increase the risk of injury and alternative practices are clearly advisable.

For many applications that involve handling items on and off a commercial vehicle, a crane or platform lift can be a practical and affordable solution. The Penny Hydraulics Gas Bottle Crane, for example, is a special version of the company’s popular Swing Lift crane that is widely used throughout British industry.

It can be fitted to most types of commercial vehicle for loading and unloading lp gas bottles and other items weighing up to 100kg. Larger cranes with higher lifting capacities are also available. The addition of an electric winch, for example, allows items to be raised and lowered from underground positions.

All Penny Hydraulics cranes feature a number of safety features to protect the operator, vehicle and load. These include a patented overload protection device, automatic braking in the event of power loss, circuit overload protection, a remote control and over wind protection.

Vehicle mounted platform lifts are also good for general load handling and are especially useful for items that can be rolled onto the platform or moved with a trolley or similar device. Models are available from Penny Hydraulics for mounting at the side of the vehicle as well as the rear, which is why the term ‘tail lift’ tells only half the story.

Penny Hydraulics has also worked with customers to develop bespoke solutions to meet their unique requirements. This has included special equipment to handle helium cylinders for birthday balloons for one leading gas supplier, and equipment for liquid oxygen dewars for another. The company offers comprehensive support, including consultation, design, manufacture, installation, training and maintenance from its head office and through a nationwide network of service engineers.

The traditional view is that cranes and platform lifts are only viable for handling larger items, but the latest models from the leading manufacturers are suitable for all loads covered by the current manual handling regulations. They are designed specifically for use on most light commercial vehicles and can be installed with little or no modification to the chassis or bodywork.

Entry-level models with maximum lifting capacities of around 250kg are ideal for many applications, but will not impinge unduly on the carrying capacity of the vehicle. Larger models with maximum capacities up to around 2,000kg for cranes and 500kg for platform lifts are available for mounting on virtually any size and shape of commercial vehicle to suit most applications.

Whatever the choice, load handling equipment should only be used after staff have received proper training and the appropriate risk assessments have been completed. This is not difficult and should help to ensure that companies and their employees continue to carry out their tasks as safely and efficiently as possible.

Contact Penny Hydraulics on 01246 811475 www.pennyhydraulics.com

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