We’re all about safety in the workshop here at Totalkare. And we’re proud to say that our equipment is some of the safest around in the marketplace today.
But not every workshop knows what they’re missing — and if you’re overdue an upgrade, you might not be aware of all the safety features you don’t have.
Here are three of the most common workshop hazards, and how choosing the right equipment can help to reduce those risks.
1. Slips and Trips
Every good workshop knows that a clean space is a safer space.
But while you might think slips and trips are an easily prevented accident, they’re still alarmingly common, accounting for 33% of all non-fatal injuries to employees.
And to make matters worse, a simple slip or trip can often be the initiator of something far more serious. If one of your workers loses their footing and trips towards active machinery or a fall from a height, the safety risks and potential for harm can increase exponentially — all from one ‘simple’ trip or slip.
So no matter what kind of workshop layout you have, you need to take slips and trips seriously, and put measures in place to minimise the risk of them happening.
The first step (and the easiest one to manage) is to keep on top of any spills in your workshop. When you’re working on jobs that involve liquids and grease, you need to have PPE and cleaning tools easily available and close at hand.
That’s why we designed our Totalkare Service Pods with built-in glove and towel dispensers. And crucially, we made them mobile so you can position your workshop furniture as close to the action as possible.
The next step — and this applies to almost every area of your workshop — is to use cable-free tools and equipment wherever possible.
Any loose cables attached to your equipment can be a potential trip hazard. And with every extra tool that uses cables in your workshop, you’re multiplying the probability of an eventual incident.
That’s why we’ve put so much effort into offering cable-free designs in as many of our equipment ranges as possible — from our cable-free T8DC Mobile Colum Lift and our handheld EvoTorque Battery Tool, to the wireless remote control tablets we use in our Brake Testers and In-Ground Lifts.
2. Dangerous Positioning
This one should be obvious for any worker that’s had the right training.
But in high-pressure situations where the work is fast-paced, some workers might not always realise the position they’re in — or they might forget how the different parts of a complex machine interact with each other.
Therefore, for an extra layer of safety to reduce the risks of potential harm, you should always be looking for the workshop equipment that makes safe positioning easier (or makes dangerous positioning impossible).
Our Totalkare Compact Pit, for example, is a multifunction piece of kit that includes a brake tester along with an inspection pit. And to help keep those two functions separate and safe, it comes with a built-in pit safety system.
If there’s a technician inside the pit, that safety system automatically prevents the brake tester from operating. So if one of your workers becomes absent-minded, and tries to start the brake tester from inside the pit, it simply won’t work — and they’ll be forced to move out from the pit and to a safer position to carry out their brake testing.
That’s also another reason why we supply so many tools with remote control through wireless tablets.
It’s partly to enable your technicians to work alone, so they can carry out tests from inside the driver’s seat. But it’s also a way to give your workers more freedom in their positioning — so they can choose a spot where they’re comfortable with their own safety, and the distance they have from the machinery they’re using.
3. Loss of Control
This one’s a big one. And it applies to almost any type of equipment you use in your workshop.
No matter how safe your tools are, there’s always a small risk of mechanical failure (or even just user error).
To protect you and your workers from the worst-case scenario, you should always choose the workshop equipment that comes with its own built-in locking mechanisms and failsafe features.
Our Totalkare Y-MECH Lift, for example, comes with built-in mechanical safety latches to maximise the safety of the vehicle while it’s being lifted, as well as rollover and rollback protection to stop the vehicle from dropping down.
But it’s not all about the heavy-duty lifts involving the largest vehicles in your workshop. Even the smallest of tools need safety features — and they’re no less important than the big-ticket items.
You’ll find mechanical locks on our Jacking Beams and Air-Operated Pit Jacks, a braked winch on our Hydraulic Presses, and a safe-lowering control valve on our High-Capacity Trolley Jacks — all designed to help keep your technicians safe and minimise the risk of losing control.
But What About Human Error?
Workshop equipment is only as safe as the people who operate it.
That means it’s crucial to combine high-quality equipment with high-quality training for your staff — to give them the confidence and safe habits they need to do their best work with the lowest risk.
And there’s one area in particular where Totalkare can help: with our comprehensive Mobile Column Lift Online Training.
It’s a fast, convenient, and affordable digital portal — giving your staff access to a CPD-certified training course delivered through video guides, walk-through tutorials, and multiple-choice questions across several different learning modules.
And the best part?
Because it’s an online course, it’s completely flexible and scalable. So you can give your staff the training they need, without disrupting their schedules or their performance.
Check out the full details in our Mobile Column Lift Training page — or speak to a Totalkare expert to find out exactly what’s involved.
This article was originally published by Totalkare Ltd.
