It is so important that you use the right kinds of handling equipment during your lifting processes. This helps to avoid accidents and make the site a safe workplace for everyone there – all operative should be able to feel completely safe in what they are doing. They should also be able to use the handling and lifting equipment correctly, so full training should be provided. One of the hardest things to lift in a commercial or construction environment is a drum. Drums are large, heavy and require special handling, or they could cause serious injury. Great care needs to be taken when handling, moving and storing drums in a construction environment.
If you use drums in your workplace, it is important you understand how to handle and move them properly. This is your obligation to your employees, keeping them safe. There are many health and safety implications that will affect drum handling, and procedures need to be followed. If you have a health and safety officer or external consultant, then you should speak to them. They will be able to devise a handling and training programme that works for you and keeps everyone on site safe. This means you will be meeting your obligations – but, as with anything in construction, safety comes first.
These are some of the ways in which you can ensure you are handling drums and other heavy pieces of equipment in the right way:
- Use a hydraulic drum truck. These allow you to lift and transport a drum so that it can be moved from place to place easily and safely. Usually, they can lift drums up to around 350kg. A good drum truck should be strong yet lightweight, making it as easy as possible to use for the operator. They will only require one person to operate them.
- Invest in a drum lifter or loader. They will use spring loaded clamps to secure the drum and will be able to lift it to an extra high height. This means that the drum can be lifted to heights of more than a metre, and any drum that has a rim can be easily lifted. This makes it easy to load the equipment into a vehicle.
- Drum pallet loaders are good for longer transportation. If you need to move multiple drums at the same time, you will need to load them onto a pallet. A drum pallet loader will be able to lift loads and stack them onto a pallet safely and easily. These are usually hydraulic systems.
- Drum stackers and rotators. These pieces of equipment are used to load drums safely and efficiently, and also to tip them so that they can be emptied out. They will twist the drum 120 degrees.
These are just some of the options for drum and material handling, meeting the most common needs of construction. If you need more bespoke equipment, talk to a lifting equipment supplier and see what they can offer you. They will have specific pieces of equipment to suit you.