Each year in Britain some 150,000 people are injured and about two million suffer from ill health caused or made worse by their work – with back strains and other musculoskeletal disorders brought on by manual handling tasks among the main causes of staff absenteeism.

Manual handling covers a wide range of activities including lifting, pushing, pulling and carrying and, while not all manual handling processes are hazardous, the reality is that - due to the nature of their work - most warehouse or distribution centre personnel will be at risk of manual handling injury at some point during the course of their daily activities.

So, with stricter legislation and increasing public expectation making every company’s commitment to health and safety management more critical than ever, it makes a lot of sense to reduce or, ideally, eliminate manual handling wherever possible.

A lot of the hard physical work that takes place within and around a warehouse environment or, indeed, a retail outlet can be cut out simply and highly cost-effectively by upgrading manually-operated pallet trucks with powered pallet trucks.

Easy to control, powered pallet trucks are considerably less tiring to work with than manual or ‘pump’ trucks and therefore personnel are likely to suffer fewer strain-related injuries when using them.

The BT Tyro LHE130 from Toyota is an entry-level powered pallet truck that has been designed for light applications. Available with Lithium-Ion technology for energy efficiency, the LHE130 is manoeuvered effortlessly and can lift and transport loads weighing up to 1300 kg, while its compact design and ‘creep speed’ functionality make it ideal for applications where space is confined.

The BT Tyro’s Lithium-Ion battery ensures truck availability and greater operational flexibility thanks to its ability to be ‘opportunity charged’ anywhere within the warehouse facility.

Toyota offers the BT Tyro with two types of fork carriage, making the truck suitable for both UK and Euro pallets.

To optimise safety when transporting loads, our new powered pallet truck automatically reduces its speed when cornering. And to ensure that only authorised personnel can operate it, the BT Tyro requires PIN code access.

Aside from reducing the risks of manual handling injury, powered pallet trucks can deliver increases in productivity, with the number of pallets moved per hour usually much higher than when manual trucks are used.

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that manual handling is responsible for almost a third of all workplace injuries in the UK. Such injuries can have serious implications for employers – as well, of course, as the person that has been injured. Many of these incidents – and the often costly fall-out from them - could be avoided with a modest investment in powered pallet truck technology.