MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
Camso educates general public on static electricity hazards linked to non-marking forklift tires with new humorous video. The video features the Solideal PON 775 NMAS, a superhero tire which resolves some issues occurring in the Material Handling world.
In the parallel and caricatured world depicted in the video, the warehousing and material handling industry has become a dark and dreary place where a strange hazard lurks. People are no longer greeting each other, shaking hands or not even giving a gentle tap on the shoulder – all of them are too afraid to catch that thing.
And that thing turns out to be static electricity buildup in non-marking forklift tires and the charge that comes from it.
“We wanted to take a lighter approach to address the serious issue of static buildup in non-marking tires,” says Erick Bellefleur, Vice-President and General Manager – Material Handling at Camso. “Of course, the reality in warehouses is not as severe as what we’ve pictured in the animation but the world we’ve created gives us the opportunity to educate on a serious topic while using a fun tone!”
For most of the world, static buildup is an invisible phenomenon. But for those who work anywhere a forklift runs on non-marking tires, the potential for static shocks – up to 50,000 volts – is an ever-present hazard. Indeed, because of the silica they’re made with, which is an insulator, static electricity generated is stored rather than dissipated, creating safety hazards such as:
- Operator injury and safety issues: creates operator stress, which ultimately leads to lack of productivity.
- Fires: static electricity can create sparks at high voltages. Machines running on combustible fuels such as diesel or compressed gas have greater risks of catching fire.
- Facility damages: Electric discharge can cause outages and circuit damage not only to the lift itself, but to other components and equipment within the facility.
All these hazards are drawn up in the video to give it its gloomy tone, but it does end on a lighter note: the PON 775 NMAS hero comes to the rescue and light returns. All joking aside, the Solideal PON 775 NMAS, thanks to a patented special anti-static device, is the industry’s first press-on tire to resolve the important safety issue of static electricity generated by non-marking tires.
“Researches show that our attention span is at its lowest ever, all the while we’re deeply absorbed in our work, but overloaded every minute with marketing messages. With a 2D animation, a sarcastic tone and catchy characters, we were able to spark the customers’ curiosity, so they’d get the essentials of it,” explains Lysandre Michaud-Verreault, Marketing Manager – Material Handling.
The video is available on camso.co/staticstory and on Camso’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpS6US734Ow .
