Aging Workforce and Obesity Are Bottom-Line Issue for Retailers

March 13, 2013 - PRLog -- Retail Handling Solutions (www.retailhandlingsolutions.com) is at the core of revolutionizing retail products handling.  When retailers stock shelves, the process is time-consuming, labor intensive, and fraught with productivity road blocks and the potential for injury, product breakage, and customer inconvenience. Because of the size and weight of pallets, important safety factors have to be considered at all times.  Retail workers (and customers) must pay attention to any loose components in the pallet rack system, and take the time to report any damage in the pallet rack frame; such frame damage could cause the pallets to fall.  It is especially important to have highly visible warning signs if the pallet rack system is used in retail environments, such as wholesale centers, where the public is present.
It is too easy to overload or exceed the recommended load specifications for a racking system. Overloading may cause a catastrophic failure of a retail storage rack system.  Rack audits (safety checks) should be performed on a regular basis by a qualified inspector familiar design and safety standards to make sure all aspects of system are up to 100% operationally safety.
James Galante, with Retail Handling Solutions, recently shared a presentation about Gaining Efficiency in Retail Stocking and specifically looked at the two largest issues effecting workman’s comp costs, namely an aging workforce and obesity.
Aging Workforce
•   In 1972, average age of a US worker was 28. Today it’s 46.
•   The number of workers aged 45+ has doubled since 1950.
•   According to the AARP, the number of people 55 years and older in the labor force – which stood at about 18.2 million in 2000 – is projected to rise to 25.2 million this year and nearly 32 million by 2025.
Obesity
•   The most obese workers file twice as many WC claims as healthy weight workers and have 13 more lost workdays.
•   WC medical claims cost are 6.8 times higher for the most obese workers and indemnity costs are 11 times higher.
•   The body parts most prone to injury are: back, lower extremities, wrist, and hands.
•   The most common causes of these injuries were lifting, lowering, and slipping – a.k.a. manual material handling.
Retail Handling Solutions is proud to have Galante as part of the team.  His expertise in assessing these retail challenges cannot be underestimated.  Mr. Galante heads up the Engineering Committee responsible for the ANSI Standard MH29 - The safety standard for industrial scissors lifts and tilters. He is the immediate past Vice-Chairman on the Main Committee for ASME B20 - The safety standard for conveyors and related equipment. He has served twice as the Chairman of the LMPS (Lift Manufacturer's Product Section) a trade association of the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and he chaired the VRC Sub-Committee (Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors) of the CSS (Conveyor & Sortation Systems) of the MHIA.  He is a member of the ASME and in 2006 was appointed to the ASME Board on Codes and Standards. He is presently the Chairman for the EASE Council (Ergonomics Assist and Systems Equipment) a product council of the MHIA.  
Recently Galante hosted a nationally attended MMH Workshop in Atlanta and another workshop in Minneapolis in conjunction with the IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers) and most recently a third MMH workshop in Chicago.  

Retail Handling Solutions
www.RetailHandlingSolutions.com
Alison K. Shea
Market Development Manager
ashea@retailhs.com
(207) 317-4222