Distribution and Wholesale

Powered industrial trucks vs pedestrians

PEE4395 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:21:19 +0000

Powered industrial trucks vs pedestrians PEE4395 Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:21

If you're driving a vehicle, it's your responsibility to keep the safety of other drivers in mind at all times. When you're driving a vehicle at work, it's the same thing, except now it's the safety of other drivers and your coworkers.

In busy and noisy work environments, coworkers and pedestrians might not always hear or see you.

That's why it's incredibly important that you're doing everything you can do drive as safely as possible. Here are steps you can take to help you drive safely:

Ensure that there's proper aisle clearance if a worker steps to the edge, so that you may drive past.
Always travel at safe speeds that are appropriate to the work environment and the type of load you are transporting.
Drive slowly when you encounter slippery or wet surfaces. As with driving a vehicle, you should modify your speed according to the conditions.
Drive slowly and blow your horn at locations, such as cross aisles, where vision may be obscured, to alert others to your presence.
Steer the truck so that the load is behind you and not blocking your forward vision.
Look for other workers while driving, and blow the horn to alert them that you are coming.
Never attempt to sneak up on a worker and scare him or her. They could be startled and fall into your path.
Turn and look to the rear of the vehicle prior to backing up. You may be surprised to discover how quickly someone or something can enter your path.
Imagine that a blind corner or doorway has a "Stop" sign attached. Always stop at these locations. Not stopping can be as dangerous as failing to stop on a city street.
NEVER, EVER attempt to do stunts with your powered industrial truck, and NEVER horseplay.

Drive safely and don't rush

Everyone has the responsibility for safety when driving a vehicle. Be it at work or on the jobsite, if you consistently apply these safety procedures, you could be better able to avoid accidents and protect your coworkers.

State Auto Insurance makes no representations or guarantee as to the correctness or sufficiency of any information contained herein, nor guarantees results based upon use of this information. State Auto does not warrant that reliance upon this document will prevent accident and losses or satisfy federal, state and local codes, ordinances and regulations. The reader assumes entire risk as to use of this information.

Business

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 06:44:07 +0000

Business admin Wed, 02/27/2019 - 01:44

Fleet safety

SIL6504 — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 19:29:49 +0000

Fleet safety SIL6504 Thu, 06/28/2018 - 15:29

Whether you're a fleet safety manager or driving a company car, we want to help you stay safe on the roads.

While we all have to look out for unsafe driving behavior on the roadways, those managing a fleet program for an organization have a much more expansive responsibility - and potential exposure.

The company fleet is unique, because this exposure is traveling on public highways. It's also an exposure that is commonly overlooked within an organization. Because of the high frequency of fleet accidents and their often devastating consequences, it's critical to minimize risks and implement a formal fleet safety program.

Managing one of the biggest risks in food distribution

LAC6530 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:10:09 +0000

Managing one of the biggest risks in food distribution LAC6530 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 14:10

Food distributors are the middle link in the food supply chain. They buy food and food products in very large quantities from manufacturers or processors at a discounted price, and then they sell smaller quantities at a higher price. This solves the problem of getting food from the people who make it to the people who sell it. Food distributors can get products out to a much broader outlet than the manufacturer or processor could handle.

Food distributors are the middle link.

We pay a lot of attention to food distribution at my company. Distributors of all kinds face many concerns and hazards surrounding the delivery of product. With food, there are some unique exposures such as spoilage.

But one of the largest exposures faced by a food distributor is the auto operations.

First, you have the hazards faced by the drivers. This is an industry that relies on human beings to make split second decisions at key moments on the road to ensure safe delivery. Some drivers might be inexperienced and most drivers are likely distracted at some point. Heavy traffic, poor road conditions and inclement weather add to the crazy mix of potential risks of the road.

Then, you have the vehicles themselves. How many automobiles does the distributor have? Are they semis, box trucks, or sedans? The age and type of the vehicle makes a difference, as we've seen in our experience insuring food distributors of all types.

On top of all this, you have the product itself - presenting some tricky circumstances for food distributors. You're managing hazards of the drivers and vehicles while making sure a perishable product is delivered properly.

Distributing food is a time sensitive operation. The food might be fresh and need to get to the point of sale quickly and in good condition. It could be frozen with the need to stay that way in transit. And, the customer waiting to receive the product might be completely dependent on this delivery to conduct their business. All of this puts additional pressures and obligations on the distributor.

Managing these risks means asking the right questions, then putting the right programs and procedures in place based on the answers. For example, an insurance agent and underwriter might ask, are the deliveries to repeat customers and locations where the routes are routine and familiar? As you might imagine, a distributor with drivers who are traveling on familiar routes and delivering to repeat customers has less risk of confusion than a driver traveling in unfamiliar territory.

Other risk management questions could be, what type of radius of operation does the distributor travel? Will the distributor handle the pick-up of the product as well as making deliveries?

With the answers to these and other questions in hand, you can then create a plan to address the specific hazards faced by the operation. For drivers, this is going to include a formal fleet management program of some sort - even if there are only two drivers in the fleet.

If you're interested in more on fleet safety programs, let me know. I can point you in the right direction. The bottom line is - when it comes to the middle link in food distribution, safety and risk management are critical.

Food distributors: don't spoil your day

LAC6530 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 17:58:23 +0000

Food distributors: don't spoil your day LAC6530 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 13:58

If you're in the food distribution business, you're likely facing the risk of some type of spoilage at this very moment.

Most food distributors face a spoilage exposure related to their perishable stock. Your worst nightmare might be a power outage or some other unanticipated equipment failure. As consumers happily buy the seemingly endless variety of dairy products, frozen food, or fresh meat, fish or poultry, they're not thinking about the possibility of substantial loss due to spoilage during transportation. But distributors certainly are.

In the risk management business, we're thinking about the unique risks food distributors face, too. When we're working to help a distributor recover from a spoilage loss, it's often the result of a few common causes.

When it comes to power outages, lightning is often the culprit of an outage on-site. Off-site, there might be an outage to a power plant or damage to a nearby power line.

The risk of equipment breaking down is, naturally, most problematic for refrigeration units. It's most often an accident that causes the breakdown.

In our experience, most food distributors need to spend some time on three areas of their operation in order to be properly protected.

First, make sure your maintenance agreements are adequate. A refrigeration maintenance agreement should be in place with a professional refrigeration service company. It should be a written contract, and it should include inspection, service, repair, and emergency repair. Freezers and coolers should be serviced on a regular basis to keep equipment running smoothly, and to avoid surprises.

Daily checks on temperature settings should be done, lights should be turned off in walk-in coolers and freezers, and the areas around cooling equipment should be kept clear, to avoid blocking the air flow.

Second, make back-up generators a priority.

Two hours. That's how quickly most perishable food will spoil if the temperature goes above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Most of the food distributors we see have back-up generators in place to maintain power to refrigeration systems for products like eggs, raw meat, fish, dairy products, and cooked foods.

Where some operations might need improvement is in the quality of generators in place. They have to be able to handle maintaining sufficient power for the refrigeration systems you have, as well as providing emergency lighting.

Finally, every distributor of food or other perishables needs to have a contingency plan.

Where will you store your product if your refrigeration equipment breaks down or there's a power outage? You can only rely on generators - even the best ones - for so long. Plan for alternate cold storage warehousing locations - even if this includes on-site refrigerated trucks.

A documented, specific contingency plan could make or break your distribution operation when faced with the immediate risk of spoilage.

Dealing with the leading cause of injury in the distribution industry

LAC6530 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 17:24:06 +0000

Dealing with the leading cause of injury in the distribution industry LAC6530 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 13:24

There isn't a distributor or wholesaler out there that doesn't understand the importance of proper lifting technique. Better yet, there isn't an employee, distributor or wholesaler that wants a back injury.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one million workers suffer from back injuries each year, which represents one quarter of all lost time workers' compensation claims.

Not only does the employer not want their workers to suffer back pain, but it can also result in very costly insurance claims.

So, how do we educate ourselves to help mitigate this type of injury?

Depending on the type of distributor you are, the size of the load will make a difference. If a large load of goods are being transported and are palletized, manual lifting generally may not occur.

However, in the case of a beverage distributor, the employee is dropping off heavy cases of water or beer to a client, so proper lifting techniques, or even hand carts are a must.

Guidelines for proper lifting techniques may include the tips I've included below. OSHA's list of factors associated with back disorders also points out some important "don'ts" such as lifting with forceful movement and reaching while lifting.

Keep your back straight and legs bent.
Hold the load as close to the body as possible and keep your elbows close to your body.
Keep a wide balanced stance, with your feet shoulder width apart or wider.
Test the load before you lift it, and correct any instability or imbalance, or redesign the lift to as to avoid twisting.
Avoid twisting, especially when bending forward while lifting. Turn by moving the feet rather than twisting the torso. Inspect the surrounding area, hallways or any other space involved to ensure that you have a clear path in advance.
Communication between the parties will lead to coordination of actions.
Rotate employees, providing a short break every hour, or use a two-person lift.
Specifically for beer distributors, install a lift gate on the trucks so that kegs can be transported to the gate and lowered to a height for unloading which will not require excess torso bending.

To ensure that proper lifting techniques are being used by the employee, it may be helpful to have a designated safety manager on staff to provide specific training on proper lifting techniques and other safe work practices, hazards and controls.

Studies by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that one-third of compensable back injuries could be prevented through better job design (think: ergonomics). However, there are a lot of other factors involved that have to do with the individual, such as age, length of service and health conditions. Employees should also take part in preventing their own back injuries by knowing their limits and alerting their supervisors to their limitations or injuries. Under a doctor's supervision, there may be things that the person can do to strengthen their back or other exercises to help prevent injury.

In our experiences with these types of insurance claims, it's also important that the safety practices are tailored specifically to the potential risk or risks involved. For example, for delivery workers that set their own schedule, it may help to develop and enforce a work-rest schedule (such as having a 15 minute break every two hours) to help prevent additional strain on the body.

The bottom line to help protect your workers and your company?Identify all exposures to potential workplace injury risks. These are potentially critical to ensuring any distributor's success in managing a healthy environment.

Additional information regarding these administrative and engineering controls can be found on the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website.

My company also has the ability to access additional documentation via our fabulous Risk Engineering department. Let me know if you need any help in providing that safe environment.