Employees must repeatedly bend the torso when unloading product from delivery trucks
Frequent lifting and lowering of beer kegs involves torso bending. Frequent torso bending is consistent with developing low back injuries.
Possible Solutions:
Educate the employee on the basics of body biomechanics and the importance of maintaining the body in an ergonomically neutral position. Generally the torso should not be bent forward more than 6 to 10 degrees from vertical and reaches should not exceed 16 to 17 inches.
Minimalize manual lifting of kegs whenever possible.
Install a lift gate on the trucks so the kegs can be transported to the gate and lowered to a height for unloading which will not require excess torso bending. Generally lifts should be performed at about belt height.
Develop a hand truck with an adjustable nose plate so loading and unloading can always be done at about waist height.
Work with customers to develop storage areas and tap cooler units that do not require using frequent torso bending or lifting beer kegs.
Modify the current hand truck or supply a new one that has an adjustable height load platform or toe plate. Devices having this capability include a palletized hand truck, a chain/crank lifting hand cart, a hydraulic foot pump hand cart, and/or a scissor cart with counterbalanced technology. Or, provide a spacer for hand trucks with a fixed toe plate so that the bottom loading level is elevated to approximately knee height. Elevating the load by adjusting the height of the toe plate will minimize torso bending.
