Striving to improve the wheelbarrow loading function and operator safety, Walkramps offered an ideal route to better loading and unloading practices for Midlands’ wheelbarrow and sack truck manufacturer, Haemmerlin.
Two existing ramps were in operation but needed upgrading and safety features improving on entry and exit sections to support the loose loading and manual stacking of individual wheelbarrows, directly onto rigid and articulated lorries. A standard ramp design was too long to suit Haemmerlin’s loading areas, so LBS and Thorworld were able to offer a shorter bespoke version of the ramp to meet exact specifications. Thorworld and LBS supplied a steel frame walkramp with aluminium decking and anti-slip tread plate surface to improve vehicle loading and unloading processes, so operators could safely break down individual pallets and take the goods off the vehicle or use sack trucks to transport goods from the van to the warehouse.
The walkramp offered additional safety features including a parking brake, a deadman’s braking system to protect from runaway when moving the ramps and safety chains for securing the ramp to the vehicle. John Meale, Managing Director at Thorworld Industries, said: “Our walkramps have been created with operator safety as the first and foremost priority. They feature a 100mm curb along each side of the ramp to prevent equipment from running over the edges. Furthermore, to prevent any ramp movement while in use, retaining chains and hooks are positioned at each side of the ramp’s top lip. The ramp can also be safely moved by four operators and is fitted with heavy duty jacking castors to make this easier.
“Convenient, practical and effective, the Thorworld Walkramp system is a piece of loading kit that’s well-worth consideration by any warehouse team and could make a big difference to safety operations in the loading environment.”
To allow access for different types of vehicles, the top two metres of the walk ramp are hinged and the height can be adjusted using a manual hydraulic hand pump. As an additional safety feature, the ramp also comes with one-metre-high handrails as standard.
A spokesperson for the customer, said: “The new ramp provided us with a safer loading process and improved the visual presentation of the process. Following risk assessments and operator training it has been in daily use for several weeks. We tested it first loading our articulated trailers and now it is the location where we load the rigid vehicles.
“Throughout, we’ve found LBS/Thorworld to be very helpful and informative regarding the technical queries and possible modifications to the design of their standard ramp. They were the only supplier of manual access loading ramps for loading articulated trailers/7.5 tonne rigids that we could find to suit our needs and the process of ordering and receiving the ramp went very smoothly and we are very happy with the build quality and ease of operation.”
Warren Craig, Director at Loading Bay Service, said: “It has been great working with such a highly regarded UK manufacturer to help them further improve loading and unloading processes. We are really pleased to be supporting them with a second project in the coming months.”
For over forty years, Thorworld has established itself as a leading, one-stop, single source supplier to the loading bay and materials handling sectors. It is recognised as both a leader and innovator in the provision of quality engineered equipment.
For more information about Thorworld’s walkramp solutions visit: www.thorworld.co.uk/ramps/walkramps
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