When the Going Gets Tough, the Trailer Gating Gets EasierWhen people think of parks, they think of acre after acre of grass, countless blades of green waving softly in the breeze, framed by neatly trimmed hedges — an open invitation to picnic, relax, play sports or just wander while enjoying the beauty of nature.
What people don’t think about is how to maintain all that grass.
”Our Parks Department manages about 600 acres a week,” says John Karesh, CPRP, Superintendent of Parks at Woodridge Park District. Founded in 1969, the agency now maintains 40 community and neighborhood parks and sites spread over 655 acres. With fields for baseball, softball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, golf, in-line hockey, woodlands, wetlands, bikeways and open space, the agency’s two Toro 7210 seated mowers — and the staff that work with them — get quite a workout covering some 60 acres of turf.
“The crew can complete its route in a week, beginning Monday morning and ending Friday,” Karesh notes. “We have four people on this route; two on the mowers and two using trimmers at each site. We mow every day, and we have to move the Toros from site to site using a trailer.”
Sound familiar? Most PDRMA members use trailers daily to move mowing and other equipment, but many of these trailers have cumbersome gate systems and gates that can weigh 125 pounds or more. The repetitive motion of lowering and lifting heavy trailer gates day after day can cause serious back injuries to staff.
As part of PDRMA’s Injury Prevention Program (PIPP), our Risk Management consultants reached out to members like the Woodridge Park District, suggesting they consider equipping each trailer with a gate lift assist device to reduce the risk of employee injuries and stress from handling heavy trailer gates.
“PDRMA told us they had been working with a vendor to supply park districts with springs to slow down the drop of a trailer gate and make it easier to pick up,” Karesh recalls. “Tim Lenac, our Risk Management Consultant, supplied us with a set of springs for our trailer that goes out every day. Before we installed the springs it was a two-man job to lift the gates on the trailer. It now only takes one person to lift the gates, and the installation was relatively easy — it took less than two hours.
“The springs have been a huge success at our district, and we really appreciate PDRMA constantly looking at ways to make our work environment safer and easier,” he says. “When our staff is done mowing a park, they have to load the trailer with equipment. The last thing they do is lift the gates and lock them. It’s really nice for staff to lift the gates with such ease — they can do it one handed — at the end of a long work day.”
While there are a variety of lift gate assist devices, a number of PDRMA members have installed the eLegator system on their trailers and have been satisfied with its performance. Download PDRMA’s Be Safe Solution – eLegator Lift System document for more information, and contact your PDRMA Risk Management Consultant for negotiated vendor rates as well as grant opportunities.
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