Rodney McFarlane - Group Linen Services
Rodney McFarlane, Logistics coordinator for Group Linen Services has worked tirelessly to develop safer ways for his staff to collect and deliver linen products to and from Queensland Health facilities.
Current stainless steel trolleys used to transport linen were heavy and hard to manoeuvre, posing serious sprain and strain injuries. The sharp stainless steel trolley corners and edges were also a common cause of injury to linen service operators.
Rodney dedicated his time to designing and pioneering a plastic trolley suitable for transportation, distribution and storage of linen, and with input from staff and an ergonomics consultant the trolley was produced and implemented in the workplace.
The new plastic trolley design has improved services in a number of ways, they are:
- 26 kilograms lighter, making an overall truck load 600 kilograms lighter
- towed by mechanical means, eliminating unsafe manual handling such as pulling and pushing heavy loads
- water and dust proof with lower maintenance costs
- environmentally friendly using only one tenth of the energy to recycle compared to stainless steel models
- moulded smooth with soft corners and edges to prevent injury.
The success of the trolleys in improving workplace health and safety has seen the trolleys developed in ten different styles with application for material handling across multiple industries.
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