Safety First When Handling Heavy Cargo

Securing a fleet of  rental trucks is the first step in having a successful project. However, if one of your workers gets seriously injured when handling cargo, success becomes bittersweet. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to prevent injuries. Accidents happen. This doesn’t mean you don’t do anything about it. Provide training for your workers. Teach them how to safely load and unload those flashy rental trucks.


Use Safety Equipment


Depending on the nature of your work, different safety equipment will be required. Generally speaking, your workers should have thick gloves, hard hats and sturdy steel-toed boots. Gloves will protect the hands from being smashed or cut when lifting heavy objects. Hard hats are important because they protect the head from falling objects. Finally, steel-toed boots will protect your feet from heavy falling objects dropped from the beds of rental trucks.


Work With Proper Visibility


Urge your workers to maintain proper visibility on work sites, especially during the night. Working in poor lighting can lead to serious injury. If you can’t see the cargo you’re handling, you could easily drop heavy objects on yourself or another worker. Poor visibility also leads to higher amounts of tripping because items on the floor aren’t as noticeable. If you have to work at night, make sure you have enough work lights to illuminate the entire work zone. 


Practice Lifting Technics


Lift with your legs, not with your back. You’ve heard it a hundred times and you’ve probably even said it, but do you practice what you preach? When it comes to actually lifting a heavy object from one of your rental trucks do you lift safely? Poor lifting technique can often lead to back injuries. Consider holding lifting training for all your workers. Never lift with your back and never twist while carrying heavy objects.


You’ll Never Regret Being Safe


Even though your fleet of rental trucks from Summit Fleet is glorious, your workers are going to need some additional training to make sure they are safe. When you successfully complete projects safely, you will be grateful you spent the effort to train your workers.