Risks You Should Assess Before Moving Heavy Furniture
Posted on: 26 June 2017
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It is usually advisable to hire professional removalists in case you lack the skills to design solutions to the risks posed by moving heavy furniture during an interstate removal. This article discusses some of those risks that can affect your safety and the safety of your heavy furniture.
Lack of Weight Information
It is very risky to move any heavy furniture whose gross or net weight is not known. This is because it is likely to be hard to determine the weight rating of the equipment that you should buy or rent during the removal of that furniture. Secondly, you may injure yourself as you attempt to move that furniture manually. Professionals have the experience to estimate the weight of those items based on the other items of furniture that they have moved before.
Handling Unsuitable Conditions
Lifting tools, such as hand trolleys, often require certain ideal conditions (flat surfaces, for example) in order to work well. However, you may need to move a heavily loaded lifting aid in unfavourable conditions, such as down a flight of stairs. You risk injuring yourself or damaging your heavy furniture in case the lifting tool tumbles down the stairs. Professional removalists have the skills to avert those risks presented by unsuitable conditions. For instance, they can opt to use moving blankets instead of using the hand trolley to move furniture down the stairs. The same blankets can also be used to move the furniture over uneven floors that can make wheeled lifting equipment unstable.
Team Lifting Tasks
Some unevenly shaped pieces of furniture may be hard to move using lifting equipment. Several people may therefore be needed to carry such items during a removal. Team lifting poses several risks, such as the risk that the weight of the item will be slanted towards one individual instead of being evenly distributed to all the people involved in that lifting operation. The overloaded person risks injuring himself or herself. Professionals manage this risk by labeling the centre of gravity of that heavy piece of furniture. They then position themselves carefully so that the weight of the furniture will not shift during its removal.
As you can see, moving heavy furniture can present several challenges that you may not be capable of overcoming as a layperson. It is therefore prudent for you to hire professionals to move your heavy furniture so that you avoid putting yourself and the furniture at risk.