Top Reasons You Need Drum Trolleys for Transportation

Drum trolleys are ordinary trolleys, except that they’re built to transport large drums. If you’re like most people, you’re probably wondering why trolleys are needed in transporting drums when you can just roll them, right?

Drum trolleys are best appreciated when you consider what factories use large drums for. Most of the time, they’re used to contain hazardous materials. When you take the word “hazardous” into consideration, it makes sense to use drum trolleys instead of just rolling them. For safety and health reasons, you want to minimise contact between the chemicals and your workers while at the same time increase the efficiency at which those chemicals are transported. 

If you search for the word “drum trolleys” on Google, you will see that they come in a wide range of models. Below, you will find some of the more popular ones: 

Self-Loading Tilting Drum Stand 

A tilting drum stand is virtually self-loading, and the drums can be loaded by only one employee, without him ever touching the drum. When the stand is in a horizontal position, the employee can retract the handles. 

Four-wheel drum truck 

Four-wheel drum trucks are easy to operate whether on smooth or rough ground. An operator can easily move the drums without feeling any load. This type of trolley is ideal for moving drums up over gutters and doorsteps with ease. 

Tilt Drum Trolley 

This type of drum trolley is something that you can use, not only to transport drums, but also to tilt, rotate and drain them. It locks a drum in the vertical position to prevent spills from happening, yet you can tilt them in a horizontal position if you need to drain the drum. You can hold and tilt a drum at any angle, or turn it over end to end to fully drain the contents. 

Low-Profile Drum Caddy

This type of caddy reduces the risk of injury caused by the manual lifting and moving drums. An operator only needs to slide the drum out of the caddy to unload it. 

The trolley models mentioned above are just some of the drum trolleys available on the market. Just like anything else, there are many, many drum trolley manufacturers out there that may offer more or less of the same thing or more. If you want to know more, just go to Google and search for “drum trolleys”. You will find manufacturers based in Australia, the United States, and Britain. 

There are those that offer hydraulic versions, as well as options for anti-explosion and anti-spill. If you think it’s expensive, it is, which is why you need to check the specifications and see if a particular drum trolley can fulfil your needs. 

So, to recap, here are the many benefits of using drum trolleys.

1.    Efficiency in transporting chemicals

When it comes to transporting drums, trolleys are the most efficient tools to use. Depending on the load and the type of trolley used, you will usually only need one person to transport several drums in one day. Also, transport time is cut down by half because - let’s face it – equipment with wheels are better at transporting load. 

2.    Safety 

When human hands and chemical-filled drums meet, there’s always the danger of an accident because of all the weight. You can, however, reduce the risk by minimising contact between the drums and the employees handling them. 

Also, as we said earlier, there are trolleys that have anti-explosion and anti-spill options. These increase safety levels altogether. 

3.    Lower employee injury claims

It’s well-known that frequent lifting and handling heavy objects like drums can cause back injuries. By using aids to help your workers transport drums, you can keep your workers safe and healthy in the workplace. 

How do you choose drum trolleys? 

As we said earlier, there are many manufacturers that can supply you with different types of trolleys. When it comes to buying the trolleys, you don’t just buy from the first manufacturer you encounter. You need to compare the prices and specifications of the different manufacturers. More importantly, you need to identify your needs. 

If you handle extremely hazardous chemicals, you might want to go for hydraulic drum jacks that can easily move one drum or several drums and can be operated easily by one person. Also, aside from trolleys, you will also need other drum handling equipment like loader and unloader, drum lifts, among other equipment. 

Most manufacturers offer technical advice on their handling equipment, so make sure to talk to a company representative if you don’t know what items to buy.