Australia's Science Forum

We really need to look at a system for the heavy text books, that we use. They are stored on the floor at the moment, you still need to bend over, to lift them to a trolley. Has any one got a system or know of a system, that could help us here. How do you store and move your text books, I use good old muscles perhaps this is a OH&S issue.

We don't store text books in the Science Area, they are stored in the Library

HI,
My heavy text books are stored in creates at bench level children carry them to class and return to prep room. But I would like to store them in wheely creates but that cost money.

Depending on your build you can carry up to 15kg (remember NOT to twist or stoop near that weight) - which is equivilent to a 5 ream paper box. We store ours at mid height in crates in a compactor here in the prep room.

Picking up boxes of books off the floor is an OH&S issue. Look into storing them at a more suitable height or get the school to invest in a hydraulic trolley that will lift heavy weights from quite low to bench height without doing your back in.

I like the sound of the wheely crates. Ours are in crates, but we do not have enough space to store them on that level, just plenty of floor space, under shelves, I knew it was a OH&S issue, but I had to get my fume cupboards, first, before I start on the text books. Were do i get Wheely crates from, please.

The wheely crates are the best thing since sliced bread and are not that expensive. I got mine from a storage specialty shop for about $35 each and have seen them since at stationery shops and even cheapo shops for about $28. Maximum capacity is about 35kg I think.
Liz

Dear Sue,
I know it depends on how many books you have, and how many students these books have to serve AND how many rooms these books need to go to. We are a small school now, but one of the things we have done in the past is to have stand up metal cupboards in each room for the storage of such books.
Naturally the timetable needs to be flexible to allow the same year levels to be in the one classroom or maybe you have 2-3 class sets of books.We store many things in these cupboards. Scissors, tape, glue, paper etc and books.
I hope this helps.
Maree

As we have two lab class rooms upstairs, they have their own set of text books. On the ground level we share two class sets, between 4 classrooms. So they are moved during the day about 3 times per day. We can not afford to buy a set for each classroom.

Then for Health and Safety reasons, these books should be on a trolley, AT ALL TIMES. Not only is your health and safety important, but also that of the students. 'Tuffy' trolleys are ideal for this type of action and do not take up a great deal of space.
Maree

I have seen wheely crates at Bunnings and Howard's Storage World

Thanks I try Bunnings.