Enlarge Image AirOlift tailored a lift with an attachment for gently handling rolls in a variety of sizes.

To prevent lifting injuries, the OSHA suggests including the installation of mechanical aids, such as pneumatic lifts, conveyors, and/or automated materials handling equipment. Some of the nation’s largest companies have heeded the call to prevent operator back injury while benefiting from higher, more streamlined production, and quick ROI.

3M, a global, diversified technology company, produces thousands of products with the goal of making life easier and better for people around the world. A similar goal of improving plant operator health, safety, and production was hatched a decade ago, according to Jim Joreski, a maintenance supervisor at 3M’s plant in Medina, Ohio.

“At the time, lifting, handling, and packing heavy, pressure-sensitive rolls of consumer labels for shipment at the plant was very labor intensive,” Joreski says. “Workers might handle a couple hundred rolls per shift, each ranging from 50 to 250 pounds, which could wear them out or expose them to potential lift injury.”

Enlage Image Productivity is up 40 percent for 3M over its previous lifting method.

After buying its first pneumatic, lift assistance device about a decade ago, the plant has added several more over the years. “Since installing the equipment, we’ve eliminated lift-related injuries in that part of the plant process,” Joreski says.  “Productivity is up about 40 percent over the previous method, and there’s no problem with operator fatigue or repetitive motion injury.”

Joreski appreciates the safety features built into the equipment.  For drop protection, for instance, a series of sensors assure the load cannot be released until it’s placed.  If there’s ever catastrophic air loss, the device slowly lowers items held to the ground, protecting operators and eliminating product damage.

Because the system is all pneumatic, operated by a single shop airline, it eliminates electric hazards such as shock from frayed wires. It also avoids running costly electrical connections in the working area.

“From higher productivity alone, a study showed payback on our AirOlift equipment in about two years, but payback could be immediate if it prevents even one back injury,” says Joreski.  “It has saved wear and tear on our people and boosted morale.”

The original lifting device purchased for the plant continues to work a decade later with virtually no unscheduled downtime or maintenance, according to Joreski.  “We’ve had no breakdowns or drop problems,” he says.  “It’s a workhorse that helps our operators lift product as safely and productively as possible.”

Glass industry

AirOlift notes a similar success story in the hazardous glass and glass product industry. According to OSHA, workers in glass and glass-product manufacturing have one of the highest injury rates among all U.S. industries. Recent statistics show that 43 percent of such injuries typically occur while handling or transporting the glass. Authorities say that such factors as the angle of inclination of sheet glass in storage, as well as issues of bowing and venting (the sudden breaking of glass), thickness and strength of the glass sheet, as well as overall sheet weight are all factors contributing to the industry's unusual risks. Other important considerations in developing safe handling procedures for glass workers often include protective clothing and preventive barriers, as well as controlled access and passageways for rapid egress from all areas where glass might suddenly "vent."

These dangers are well-recognized at the Marvin Windows and Doors of Tennessee plant in Ripley, Tenn., where extremely large, awkward, and breakable components—including dangerous-to-handle glass sheets weighing as much as 200 pounds—are routinely assembled into door panels than can weigh as much as 500 pounds.

For many years, Marvin WDT had to send coordinated teams of workers to lift, carry, position, and lower these components without mechanical assistance, each person having to wrangle as much as 125-135 pounds of the fragile material. The result was a steady stream of problems.

"We saw numerous back injuries in that area," says Hal Williams, the Safety, Workers Comp & Wellness Manager at Marvin WDT's Ripley plant. "And there was also a high employee turnover in that area."

To combat these problems, Marvin WDT began redesigning and retooling its production processes, investing in state-of-the-art material-handling systems to reduce the risk of injuries and ease the workload. Workers now use one of the new manipulating systems to pick up sheets of glass from the original shipping crates and place them into door sashes positioned on a horizontal conveyor. Workers then use a second, larger unit to pick up an entire door panel with its glass and sash assembly for installation into a frame. The sheets of glass alone weigh up to 200 pounds, depending on dimensions, while the final door panels weigh as much as 500 pounds.

According to Williams, Marvin WDT originally purchased two AirOlift lifting/manipulating systems capable of moving 500 pounds or more, then added two more. Although clamping systems capable of handling very delicate objects are available for the units, Marvin WDT opted for suction systems designed to specifically handle glass and other smooth-surfaced objects.

Since early 2009, the systems have been making it easier, faster, and safer for Marvin WDT workers to do their jobs.

"They're performing wonderfully," says Williams, of the AirOlift equipment. "We haven't had any issues at all, no service or mechanical failure or anything like that. One of the safety features I really like is that if air pressure is lost, the manipulators will not release or drop the panel."