All good advice bears repeating, or at least updating. RER editors recently culled through past articles to uncover tips about everything from electrical safety practices and open house strategies to training employees and going green by implementing environmentally friendly business practices. The results are some useful new ideas for rental businesses to consider.

1. Review electrical safety

   It shouldn't come as a shock that electrical tool safety is nothing new, but its importance is still as vital as it was 33 years ago. In a January 1975 RER article titled “How to Set Up (And Use) Your Own Electrical Service Center,” Fred Sotcher, founder and president of Sotcher Measurement wrote, “By taking the time to set up a checklist for each type of tool inventory, you can assure yourself of the greatest profit and a safer, happier customer.

   “Operator safety is of paramount importance, and safety is dependent upon both the operator and the tool,” Sotcher wrote. “A leakage current test and check of ground cord continuity should be done automatically prior to issuing any tool.”

   Indeed that advice still holds up today. According to a report by the Itasca, Ill.-based National Safety Council, OSHA's list of 10 Most Frequently Cited Violations of 2007 included Electrical Wiring at No. 7 with 3,192 total violations in the period from Oct. 1, 2006 to Sept. 30, 2007, and Electrical at No. 10 with 2,519 total violations.

   With nearly 6,000 electrical-related violations reported just last year alone, rental companies and their employees can regularly benefit from an update of some general electrical safety tips.

   The good news, according to Sotcher, who is now retired but still somewhat active in his former company Sotcher Measurement, now run by his son Marc, is that manufacturers offer better and safer electric tools to the industry than they did 30 years ago. The bad news, he says, is that the rental industry still has a relatively high accident rate with rented electrical tools, and liability problems for rental companies have become more acute and more extensive, the combination of which results in higher insurance rates.

   The solution for the rental company is as simple as committing to a more careful examination of electrical tools after each rental.

   “A rigid policy of testing every tool between rentals not only weeds out the defective ones, but provides you with the best defense you can have,” Sotcher wrote. “With such a policy you can prove that the tool was safe at the time of rental. The key is to be sure that you are making a reasonable investigation for safety.”

   There are a number of different electrical testing devices available that are designed for such a purpose. The most basic testing device, according to Sotcher, is a product engineered to test any electrical product for safety. It ensures that the user won't feel any electrical sensation when using the product.

   In addition, there are devices designed specifically to test the integrity of portable generators; products used to test extension cords and wiring; products to check the winding in a field motor; diagnostic products designed to maintain and check the safety of all the products in a rental inventory; and multi-meters, which are capable of measuring electrical phenomenon such as current and resistance.

   A hipot tester is a device designed to test the electrical insulation in a wired assembly. It works by putting a significantly higher-than-normal voltage across the insulated parts of the tool to verify it has a good enough barrier to protect the operator during use. Also, every rental store should have an AC leakage current tester to verify that the tool is electrically safe, Sotcher says. And the best time to conduct the test is after the tool comes back from a rental. At the same time, Sotcher recommends that the rental store do a careful visual inspection of the tool to check for damage and to ensure that guards, safety devices and all manufacturer's warning labels are intact.

   The biggest item to check for during the visual inspection, Sotcher says, and the one responsible for more fatalities than any other electrical condition in the tool, is the strain relief — the plastic device that captures the power cord as it exits the tool. If the strain relief becomes damaged or missing and the cord is pulled from the tool, it puts a strain on the electrical components inside the tool, creating a potentially dangerous electrical problem.

   “I've served as an expert witness in court in electrocution cases, and the strain relief is often overlooked during a visual inspection,” Sotcher says. A good step toward preventing accidents is for rental store managers and owners to hold regular safety meetings to heighten the awareness of electrical tool safety among employees.

   The last significant thing that a rental store needs to do for its own liability and the safety of its customers is to maintain a record-keeping system.

   “In the event of an electrical accident, you need to have some documentation that you did a check of the tool before you rent it to someone,” Sotcher says. “The most common way is a service tag attached to the equipment that includes the tests that are performed and the name and date of the person who did the test.”

   Maintaining a consistent record-keeping system is the key, according to Sotcher, but this kind of vigilance provides very good liability protection and also encourages employees to do the electrical inspection on a regular basis because his or her name on the tag leaves no question of accountability.

   “Such a system ensures that the tools in the rental center are safer in the first place,” Sotcher says. “No tool goes back in inventory without being inspected. If that's not followed religiously, then you've put a big chink in your armor of liability protection.”

2. Host an open house

   A rental center open house brings to mind polished waxed floors, shiny new equipment and new owners and store managers who are energized and ready to take their new customers by storm, right? Well that's one scenario where an open house can be a smart marketing and business initiative, but a rental store doesn't have to be newly opened to throw a party for its customers and build a strong reputation for itself.

   For instance, Park Ridge, N.J.-based Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., which added 24 general rental locations in 2006 as part of its planned expansion in that area of its rental business, spent much of 2007 hosting grand re-opening events for its customers. HERC took the opportunity to showcase each facility's showroom and newly expanded product line, and also organized vendor demonstrations with literature on-hand.

   To satisfy customer appetites, HERC offered free catered barbecue lunches and promotional giveaways, held ribbon-cutting ceremonies attended by corporate HERC management as well as local dignitaries and politicians, and often invited a local radio station to broadcast live from the event.

   Pendleton, Ore.-based West's Rentals and Sales celebrated its 20th birthday last June with an open house, serving coffee and donuts in the morning and a hamburger barbecue in the afternoon.

   Halton Rental, a Caterpillar dealer for Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington with headquarters in Portland, Ore., celebrated the opening of its sixth facility in East Portland last year with an open house event. The company offered tours of the rental store, its used parts area and the location's machining and fabrication shop.