Material Handling Saves Lives!
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009I guess the headline would indicate a rebuttal to my post from yesterday, but it’s really not.
I received an e-mail this morning from MHEDA Past President Ken MacDonald, president of M & G Materials Handling Company in East Providence, RI. Evidently, Ken’s brother Dan was driving an employee, Andrew Sunderland, to work when the two came across a bicyclist injured in a crash with an automobile. Sunderland recognized the cyclist as Andy Blanchard, Sunderland’s counterpart at local forklift dealer competitor Crellin Handling Equipment. Blanchard had collided with a vehicle and lay unconscious in the street. Luckily, MacDonald and Sunderland came by when they did. Sunderland was able to perform CPR until paramedics arrived. According to a co-worker quoted in the Providence Journal article, “Blanchard was conscious and alert early Friday evening.”
If we needed more evidence that material handling is a people business, there you have it. Blanchard and Sunderland had previously worked together and the two had been known to “go out for beers together” in the past. Relationships, relationships, relationships. That’s what material handling is all about.







