Workplace injuries are preventable with the right tools, procedures, and guidelines.  Back injuries are one of the most common workplace injuries, plaguing all workplaces and especially our industry of vaults and enclosures.  Many concrete and polymer concrete covers require machinery to lift and access the vault safely. To help create a safer environment and more pleasant experience we have designed our lightweight covers with safety in mind to help prevent strains when handling and accessing underground enclosures.

OSHA recommends following guideline set forth by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) when it comes to lifting and ergonomics. Per NIOSH’s extensive studies and calculations, it is recommended that a maximum of 51 pounds be lifted by an individual using two hands.  Our line up of lightweight covers ranging in size from 1324 up to our 3048 half cover, are all under the 51 pound threshold—ensuring safe lifting and handling for each size.

At APC, we value safety and understand how important it is to keep our employees and teams safe, as well as our responsibility to keep our partners and customers safe as well. That’s why we offer these lightweight covers as standard on our most popular sizes in our Legacy Series™ and all our Maximus™ HD vaults.

There is no sacrifice to performance when using our lightweight composite covers, as these covers are rated to both Tier 15 and Tier 22, independently.  For more information on the importance of load ratings and how products are tested, be sure to review one of our previous Inside the Box topics here.