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VelocityEHS ergonomist, Michael Hoonhorst, interviews Kari Michalski of Magline, Inc. about key considerations when it comes to purchasing manual material handling equipment.

Video Transcript

Mike: Hello, it’s Mike Hoonhorst, certified ergonomist from Humantech (now VelocityEHS Ergonomics), here at Magline. I’m here with Carrie, the Production Control Manager at Magline, and I just wanted to ask Carrie one question. What are three considerations for customers when they’re purchasing material handling equipment?

Carrie: Well, you need to think about the specifics of the environment. Is it gravel? Is it a hard surface? Is it outdoor? Indoor? Is it a combination? Are there stairs? Are there curves? How many doors do you have to go through? So definitely, you have to think about where you’re going to use this piece of equipment and what the obstacles are in there and what the what the nature of that environment is.

In addition to that, I would think you’d need to look at the variation in your package size. If you’re moving nothing but bottled water that leads you very normally into a bottled water hand truck. If you have mixed package sizes, a totally different solution then for something like that. And then I think you want to look at the variability in your workforce. If you have aging people, very young people, if you have women, it may drive you to a different decision than if you have an army of 20-year-old men.

Those are the big things.

Mike: Good. So, sounds like three considerations are the environment, the packages or what you’re moving, and then the type of workforce that it’s going to be used for.

Carrie: Right. Yeah, absolutely.

Mike: Great! Well, thanks again for your time today, and thank you again for watching. It’s Mike Hoonhorst from Humantech (now VelocityEHS Ergonomics).