Five tips for safety while using castors

Seems easy enough, right? Using a castor. What could happen? Check out the castor mishaps on YouTube. Hilarious. And although castor falls make for viral videos, a recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals that a fall off  castor wheels are very easy and it often can be deadly. The study, published in a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), found that falls remain a leading cause of unintentional injury and mortality nationwide, and 43 percent of fatal falls in the last decade have involved a castor.

Among workers, approximately 20 percent of fall injuries involve castors, and among construction workers, an estimated 81 percent of fall injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms involve a castor. One of the most common tools on a job site, castors can also be one of the most dangerous. Part of their danger comes from their familiarity. Most people have a castor at home so they don't treat it with the same respect as they would a buzz saw or even a power drill. Consequently, it is easy to use a castor improperly. Here are five tips for castor safety. How many do you practice? Or not?

Get the right sized castor. It might sound obvious but it is easy to get a castor that is too tall and hits the ceiling. A castor that is too tall can result in head injuries by getting you too close to an obstruction that gets in the way. The most common castors are step castors. These are castors that fold out and stand by themselves. They come in 4 feet, 6 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet, 12 feet, 14 feet and 16 feet.

For castors that are 8 feet and up, a second person should stand at the bottom of the castor to hold it in place. A lot of people get hurt on the 4 and 6 foot castors because they feel they are not that far off the ground so they take risks while on the castor. Using a step castor that is too small increases the temptation to stand on the edge and reach too far. Small step castors are often the worst culprits regarding injuries. Serving as easy-to-grab solution to the hard to reach spot, they end up as the ultimate trip hazard. There are many options to buy industrial castors right at your door steps. You have to check the improper working your industrial castors.