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Armstrong's plantmix box carrier sleeves
improve safety for employees

Sometimes the innovations that don’t directly save money or time, or do much of anything for our external customers, have the most benefit for us as co-workers. Such is the case with an idea out of District 2 and Don Armstrong.

“I’d seen enough of field personnel get burned trying to wrestle the boxes out the coolers,” Armstrong explained. So, he took action.

After two D2 employees — including Armstrong himself— were injured while removing or handling the 50-lb. box of hot plantmix (up to 300 degrees), Armstrong wanted to make it safer and easier. So, he fashioned a bunch of sleeves that could be used to transport and carry the hot paving mix from the lab to the construction site (or vice versa).

The response has been good.

“I’ve had some good feedback from field personnel,” Armstrong said. “They find that unloading the 9” X 9”X 9” HMA boxes out of the coolers is much easier.”

Armstrong said the cooler just needs to be a few inches wider than the boxes so you can get your fingers down to the sides or grip the underneath lip. He also said you still need to wear gloves, even after layering the inside perimeter with cardboard and placing wooden lath in the bottom of the cooler.

“Besides being easy to lift, the techs that use the carriers like the fact that they don’t have to worry about the bottom of the boxes coming apart,” Armstrong said. “Both accidents could have been prevented by using the sleeves.”

“What is the cost of a visit to the hospital? There’s your cost savings,” he added.

Note: Armstrong had surgery on his left shoulder Nov. 22, after lifting a full box that came apart and dropped, forcing him to make a one-handed, very painful catch.