Order picking has become a huge process in UK industry over the last 10 years. Distribution hubs and logistics warehouses have sprung up all over the country and we are now very reliant on the immediacy of deliveries, to all corners of Britain. Most of these hubs and warehouses use highly sophisticated order picking equipment with automated systems being affordable through the economy of scales that mass storage has provided.

Based in Haverhill, Suffolk are a European company that provides top quality products for conveying varying types of sports equipment on vehicles, camping vehicle accessories, backpacks and luggage plus all types of strollers and bike trailers to enable family holidays and days out.

The Disney Magic cruise ship has been anchored in the UK since May 2020 because of the Covid 19 pandemic. It is the first vessel of a fleet of four, operated by Disney Cruise Line. The owners had confirmed that the ship will be used for UK only sailings during the 2021 summer period. This meant that the boatyard needed to ready her for her voyage from Liverpool.

Some bespoke projects really get you excited and this one was no exception. The London bus fleet has been operating since 1829, albeit they were initially horse drawn and of course things have moved on slightly since then.

We have enjoyed a 50 year association with the aerospace industry in the UK, providing materials handling equipment to support the manufacture, service and repair of all types of aircraft. This wealth of experience means we have an understanding of the standards of excellence expected in the supply chain for this line of business.

Our friends at Fully Charged London were looking for a set of mobile safety steps for stock picking at their new service centre. This would enable service technicians to carry out repairs direct from the racking area, so we were pleased to assist them in selecting the right steps to suit their exact requirements.

The red London bus is an iconic image recognised all over the world. There are 8,600 buses in the whole fleet, operating on 700 routes, serving 19,000 stops, carrying a jaw-dropping 6.5 million passengers each day. So that means that when the buses return to the workshops, there is an immense behind-the-scenes maintenance schedule to uphold daily, to keep the fleet operational.

Let us be very clear first of all, order picking trolleys and ladders are both a sensible and practical option for low risk and for short duration tasks when working at height. The law says ladders can be used for working at height when a risk assessment has shown that using equipment offering a higher level of fall projection is not justified because of a low risk and short duration of use or there are existing workplace features which cannot be altered. As a quick guide, if your task will require staying up a ladder or step ladder for 30 minutes at a time, it is be recommended that you use alternative equipment.

When a top European paint manufacturer had the need to replace their existing steps on site and couldn’t find anything else in any catalogue or on the web, they contacted us here at Action to visit them on site in Liverpool to measure the old faithful steps that had served them so well in the past and requested us to produce a replica but to ensure it met all current health and safety regulations.

Action Handling were recently contacted by the NHS supply chain to solve a problem encountered by their warehouse operatives. On a daily basis, the warehouse team continually loads and unloads plastic containers onto and off of a high-level conveyor system. The main issue resulting from this task is a question of how the managers can maintain productivity whilst complying with H&S legislation and current lifting and handling regulations.

When an Essex-based fire station encountered a recurring issue with maintenance and cleaning of fire engines, they contacted Action Handling Equipment Ltd to visit the site and advise of a solution to improve the process.

When a leading car roof box manufacturer had a health and safety issue onsite, concerning the loading and unloading of vehicles at its warehouse in Suffolk, they contacted Action Handling Equipment Ltd to visit the site and advise of a solution to resolve the issues.

The Air Cadets had a health and safety problem that was causing issues with damage to aircraft wings and difficulty in boarding aircraft and then also leaving the cockpit.

One of our biggest customers, a leading Information Management Company, was concerned about their standard on-site operating procedure for retrieving document storage boxes. The boxes were stored on shelving which cannot be reached from floor level and the existing method, using aircraft style safety steps, was creating significant manual handling difficulties, making it unsuitable for the application.

After experiencing some issues regarding health and safety compliance, the Forensic Investigation Unit of a southern-based police authority contacted Action Handling’s bespoke steel service, hoping to find a solution.