Preparing your Fleet for “Return to Work”
To our Valued Customers,
The Abel Womack Team hopes this message finds everyone safe and well! We are impatiently awaiting the day all businesses can begin the journey back to flourishing business levels, and a return to at least the “new normal”. What a scary term of uncertainty that is!
As your team makes plans to bring your operation and fleet of lift trucks back online, we wish to provide you with some guidance for a safer, more productive “Return to Work”. In many cases, equipment that has been parked, in whatever condition it was in and then sat for weeks or months, needs attention before being put into service
The general health and welfare of Abel Womack associates, and those of our Customers, is our top priority. In partnership with many of our suppliers, CDC guidance and other federal and local government agencies, we have prepared some suggestions below to help give you the best possible transition back to full operation for your lift truck fleet and operators. We have listed below some of the much sought-after services, personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizing materials available.
Lift Trucks “Safe Return to Work”
Trucks that have sat for an extended time may have developed problems or may have been parked with existing problems that have been forgotten about. Cold storage trucks are especially susceptible to problems while sitting for long periods. Here are some recommendations for services to perform prior to pressing your fleet back in service.
- Scheduled Maintenance – Performing this service will identify problems in advance, giving you the opportunity to correct them before you use the truck, as well as much needed lubrication. We suggest performing this maintenance now before you need the equipment.
- Load Wheels may have flat spotted while sitting. This can happen to all wheels to some degree. If you find flat spotted wheels and there is no obvious damage to the wheels, operate the truck for an hour or so and the flat spots should work themselves out. If not, give us a call!
- Battery Watering & Charging – While the truck sat, there is a good chance that your battery cells have started to sulfate. We recommend putting your battery on an equalize charge now while the truck is sitting. We then recommend watering the battery to the proper level. If you need help, we do provide battery services. (View battery health tips)
- Operations Check – If you do nothing else before you put your fleet back into service, at least do a thorough operations and safety check. This inspection can vary depending on the make and model of truck, but the standard checks are brakes, travel, plugging, lift, steering wheels, and forks. You will want to do this before you need the truck in service. This service does not replace the daily checklist requirements for the operator.
- Sanitizing/Disinfecting – Abel Womack offers a sanitizer that is a certified FDA COVID Killer, plus we have invested in equipment that atomizes the sanitizer for use on all surfaces, from your kitchen to your lift truck. Some of our customers are utilizing our services to sanitize all their equipment every day. Since this is a process that should take place every time different operators use the truck, it is something that you, the Customer, should become familiar with doing. While we would be happy to provide the service, it is more cost effective and efficient if we provide the equipment and supplies for you to do it yourself. Give our Service Dept. a call if you would like to discuss a plan for your operation.
Employees “Safe Return to Work”
Getting your team back to work during these unprecedented times is going to require some new procedures such as wearing masks, social distancing, daily temperature taking and new protocols for your team, suppliers, and contractors. Over the past couple of months, many have struggled to find the most coveted supplies such as face masks, hand sanitizer, sanitizer/disinfectant, and most of all…… toilet paper! Really? Abel Womack has been working with our suppliers so we can obtain a steady inventory of these highly sought-after items not only for our own use, but to make available to our customers. Some of our customers have already begun purchasing these items.
- Face Masks – While many opt for the reusable/washable masks due to comfort, Abel Womack has both; disposable masks in stock, plus we have available manufactured reusable/washable masks…we can even add your logo to the masks! (View disposable masks; View reusable masks)
- Hand Sanitizer – Hand washing and sanitizing has been the battle cry to defeating Covid-19. Abel Womack has a steady inventory of Covalent hand sanitizer available by the gallon, or you can save and purchase a 55-gallon drum. This is the very same hand sanitizer our essential service team has been using. (View hand sanitizer details)
- Liquid Sanitizer/Disinfectant – Disinfecting and sanitizing shared surfaces and touch points has become another essential part of battling the spread of Covid-19. Like the hand sanitizer, Abel Womack has made available to our customers Covalent ECO SAFE disinfectant and sanitizer. (View disinfectant details)
- Temperature Taking – One thing businesses will likely find to be a daunting task is taking the temperatures of your team as they enter your facility and maintaining those records. If you are planning on making this part of your return to work protocol, perhaps a Dahua Thermal Temperature Monitoring solution will help make this task much less daunting. While Abel Womack does not directly sell this system, one of our partners does and we can easily connect you with them. They provide these systems delivered and installed, both as a purchase or lease. Since our own offices have too few employees to make this system useful for us, we haven’t tested it ourselves. We do, however, think this is a real cool technology and believe it would be helpful and well worth the minor investment for many of our customers. (View Thermal Temperature Monitoring brochures)
- Visitor Holding Area – Protect your personnel as well as visitors, vendors, and other warehouse or building Truck drivers, delivery people and other non-employees who enter your facility can be a risk. Whether a building visitor is looking for someone to sign a ticket or just looking for a restroom, they should not be wandering around your facility floor. We can design and size for each situation. (View security access cages)
As we transition ourselves to the “new normal”, Abel Womack stands ready to assist you with yours. If you simply have a question, need some advice, or if interested in any of the products or services mentioned, please give us a call at 800.554.2887 or send us an email to solutions@abelwomack.com.
Together, we will meet this challenge and support our customers and community!
Our best regards,
The Abel Womack Team
