Back in 2020, at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, we had a blog post - HOW TO OVERCOME MANUAL HANDLING ISSUES DURING THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND.

Little did we know that staff shortages would still be a serious issue in 2023! Every week we hear from the CBI and the Government, that companies – of every size and industry, that employers are facing unprecedented challenges trying to find enough workers to fill job vacancies.

Many factors have come together to cause the ongoing shortage. At the top of the list is Covid-19.

The pandemic caused a major disruption in the UK work force – Clearly Covid-19 caused many people to re-evaluate their lives, and either retire, cut back on their hours, take time out – perhaps to acquire new skills or education – or change how and where they worked.

While most leading world economies have since recovered, the UK still has around 400,000 more people not working than in December 2019. Other factors at play include ill health – for example,

key figures for Great Britain (2021/22) show that 477,000 workers were suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder. The situation can only get worse unless companies try to resolve their increasing work handling issues.

What can firms do to counteract the labour shortage, and the impact that this has, not only on their remaining employees in terms of a potential increased workload and inherent safety issues, but also on their ability to meet their business targets?

Companies that are continuing to struggle to attract and retain skilled labour for their production work are looking for ways to do more with fewer personnel and are turning to crane and hoist companies to provide lifting and positioning solutions whenever manual work has been increased; thus ensuring  minimal strain on workers and to protect them from injuries. And, to keep them performing the job with less staff, by moving from a multi-person operation to a single person set-up or improving the handling set-up of workstations used in manufacture or process.

The DALE crane technology division is working with employers to solve these challenges that have become the norm - with cost-effective handling solutions to address the issues related to the increase workload on their dwindling labour force.

Paul Kildunne – Crane division manager says “We are working with our customers by engineering new and different ways to solve their manual handling issues. With many decision-makers being so stretched with daily responsibilities, they are looking for reliability and trust. They are relying on us to be the experts in the field, and to supply economic handling systems that address their specific needs and perform at a high level no matter the application or environment.”

You can contact Paul on the telephone 0161 223 1990 or by email: paul.kildunne@dale-lifting.co.uk to discuss your handling requirements.