Sack trucks, trolleys and pallet lifters

Goods handling for warehouse, shop and archive

Sack truck, trolley or pallet lifter?

The choice follows how the goods are standing. A sack truck slides in under the load and tips backwards, so it suits boxes, sacks and anything resting on the floor. A trolley has one or two load decks and rolls on four wheels, which suits goods picked up along the way. A pallet lifter goes into the pallet's openings and raises the whole pallet a few centimetres.

The load plate decides what fits on the sack truck. The fixed toe plate is narrow and slides under a box. A fold-out load plate gives a larger surface to stand the goods on, and folds away when it is not needed.

The Type filter splits the category into sack trucks and hand trucks, trolleys, pallet lifters, mobile work platforms, flatbed kick scooters and accessories.

Do the goods have to go up or down a staircase?

An ordinary sack truck does not work on stairs. The wheel catches on every step, and whoever is pulling takes the whole weight. A stair climber has three wheels per side mounted in a cluster instead. When the truck meets a step, the cluster rotates and the next wheel takes over, so the load travels upwards in one steady movement rather than in jerks.

There is also a sack truck that folds out into a step ladder. The same tool then both moves goods and reaches high, which saves space where there is no room for two separate things.

You will find the stair climbers under Type, among sack trucks and hand trucks.

Which wheels suit your floor?

The wheel matters more than most people think. A hard wheel rolls easily on a level floor but bounces on gravel and sends the shocks straight up into the load. A softer wheel absorbs unevenness but takes more effort to pull.

• Solid rubber - puncture-proof and soft enough for thresholds and gravel yards. The wheel can never go flat.
• Rubber - rubber-clad swivel wheels that run quietly indoors and are gentle on the floor.
• Polyurethane - hard and hard-wearing, for heavy loads on level industrial floors. Fitted to the pallet lifters.
• PU foam - puncture-proof foam that feels close to a pneumatic wheel, with no valve to repair.

Choose in the Wheels filter. If the equipment will be used both indoors and outdoors, solid rubber is usually the safest compromise.

How much does it need to carry?

Load capacity is the first figure to compare, and it varies a great deal. An office trolley for files and post sits at one end, a pallet lifter for full pallets at the other. The sack trucks and the larger warehouse trolleys fall in between.

Work from the heaviest load you actually move, not the average. It is the occasional heavy load that wears out undersized equipment, and it always turns up sooner or later.

The Load capacity (kg) filter shows the maximum load. On trolleys with two decks the figure applies to the whole trolley - the lower deck will normally take more than the upper one, because the load sits closer to the wheels.

When is a ladder not enough?

The Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) is clear that a ladder has its limits. Falls from ladders lead to long sick leave - 50 days on average. The authority lists when a ladder is unsuitable: when you need both hands, when you have to apply force, when you are handling something heavy or bulky, when you need to reach across a large area, when the work takes a long time, and when the ground is slippery or uneven.

A mobile work platform is one of the alternatives they point to. It has a flat floor to stand on, a guard rail all round, and spring-loaded wheels that retract when someone stands on the platform, so it cannot roll away. That makes it a work tool for standing still and working, not just for reaching up briefly. In Sweden the employer is responsible for making sure the right equipment is used.

Platform height is the measurement to choose by - how high the floor sits, not how high you reach. Expect the working height to be roughly two metres above the platform height.

The platforms are tested to EN 131-7, the standard for mobile platform ladders, with a maximum load of 150 kg. To meet SS-EN 131-7 in full, double-sided handrails are required; they are available as accessories, together with a folding gate and a tool shelf.

Trolleys for archive, shop and warehouse

A two-deck trolley is the archive workhorse. Files, crates and boxes stand firmly on laminated decks, and the lockable wheels keep the trolley still while it is being loaded. The height between the decks decides what fits standing upright.

If you need a lip, it stops goods sliding off when the trolley crosses a threshold or turns sharply. Without one, loading from the side is quicker.

The flatbed kick scooter is for long distances indoors. A load deck at the front and a handlebar to kick yourself along with - in a large warehouse or a long shop floor it saves more steps than anything else in this category.