Copyright 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022 Solutions by Design
Lowe’s Safety Issues
Lowe’s is fundamentally, a warehouse, albeit a friendlier one than Home Depot. As such, it uses a variety of equipment to allow employees to reach stock above the floor level.
Blueies - One of these is the “Bluie.” An electric lift device that allows far easier access to items that are on high shelves, particularly heavy and / or bulky items. The Bluie is a fantastic tool.
But these devices have their problems.
- The safety arms that enclose the user are frequently defective - They are made of mild steel and at many stores have bent so much that they no longer meet the receiver when dropped. They can hit an employee, or swing around and hit a child standing nearby.
- The hinge is also mild steel and on many units has become so bent that when open no longer holds the arm in the proper position.
- The plastic windows meant to provide a view in front of the unit when it is pushed are scratched, filthy, and difficult to see through.
- There needs to be a lower window so that children in the path of the machine are visible to someone pushing it.
Yellow lines in front of stores - In many states, the parking lots are operated unlawfully. While all states have adopted the U.S. Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, only about half have made it binding on operators of private parking lots. In New York, it is a traffic infraction to erect or install a “traffic control device” such as a painted line that doesn’t comply. In this context, yellow lines may only be used to separate traffic in opposing directions. This becomes a serious safety issue because an important aspect of traffic engineering is that compliance should be automatic - that is, traffic control must be standardized so that motorist behavior is instinctive. For this reason, Federal and international standards allow yellow pavement markings to be used only to separate traffic moving in opposite directions. A driver is supposed to always stay to the right (in the U.S.) of a yellow line. On the other hand, if a driver see a yellow line to his or her right, the driver should know that he or she is going in the wrong direction or is on the wrong side of the highway. When yellow is misused, as Lowe’s does in the front of stores, this automatic reaction is reduced. And we all know how often this results in death when someone gets on a highway the wrong way. The applicable New York law is available here.