If you attended last year’s NECA convention, hosted in Philadelphia by the National Electrical Contractors Association, you already know that the event is on an upward trajectory. Between 2014 and 2017, just over 6,000 people attended each year. In 2018, the number of participants exploded to over 10,000! If anything, NECA 2019 promises to be even bigger. So what can… Continue Reading
Where do you store electrical materials during a construction project? As just one contractor sharing space with all the other trades, electrical firms can quickly run into storage limitations. Add to that the challenge of sharing elevators, navigating narrow aisles, and the multiple trips usually required, and the scope of the material-handling challenge becomes apparent. You don’t want access to… Continue Reading
While electric forklifts are ideal for cold storage facilities, low temperatures aren’t great for battery performance. The battery that provides a full eight hours of power in ambient temperatures might give out after just half that time in below-zero temperatures. The additional charge cycles wear on batteries and cut down on overall performance life. Users can address and minimize these… Continue Reading
July 14, 2019 — St. Louis, MO — BHS, Inc., a leading manufacturer of material handling equipment, battery room solutions, and electrical equipment, has joined the app revolution. The St. Louis-based company’s new mobile app, BHS Optima, launches Jul. 14, and will be available for download from the Apple App Store, the Android Google Play Store, and the BHS website, [https://na.bhs1.com/media-library/bhs-optima/]. “BHS Optima is really a one-stop shop for everything BHS,” said Melissa Bowen of BHS Marketing. “Dealers can find all the sales tools they’ll ever need in one place, while end-users can use the app to stay in contact with BHS Technical Support 24/7.” The app features an easy-to-use interface that guides users to resources for sales, service, and… Continue Reading
Manufacturers need to feed their lines, which requires a reliable material handling operation within the plant. Historically, material flow has depended almost entirely on forklifts. More recently, another type of industrial truck is showing up at assembly lines around the world. Whatever you call them — tuggers, tow tractors, tugger-cart systems, Warehouse Trailers — this new approach has plenty to… Continue Reading
In a 2001 standard interpretation letter, Russell Swanson, then-director of OSHA’s Directorate of Construction, made it clear that self-employed workers are not subject to OSHA’s construction safety standards. “If a construction worker is truly self-employed — is not an employee — and has no employees working for him or her, OSHA has no authority to require that individual to abide by OSHA construction requirements,” Swanson wrote. That seems simple enough. After all, the construction safety standards devised and enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were built to protect employees. Independent contractors aren’t employees, as any tax professional will tell you. But what about subcontractors working under a general contractor? What about equal partners on the same job site?… Continue Reading
July 9, 2019 — St. Louis, MO — BHS, Inc., a leading provider of material handling equipment for the electrical industry, is offering a new, low-cost solution for storing, filling, and paying out cable reels. The Dyna Reel Platform (DRP) stores bulk cable reels on a bed of steel rollers, allowing users to smoothly pull product without moving reels. Users who need more mobility can choose the Dyna Reel Platform Attachment (DRPA), a similar product that has models that fit onto lift truck forks (DRPA-FP) or pallet jacks (DRPA-PJ). Both options provide new opportunities for compact storage and quick, ergonomic access in industries that depend on cable reels, including suppliers, construction electricians, and telecommunications providers. “Our customers were looking for… Continue Reading
