While it may be tempting to occasionally disregard safety procedures to save time or resources, this practice is never worth the risk in the long term. Creating and maintaining a safe working environment improves productivity and employee satisfaction. Below are guidelines on the biggest risk factors in warehouses and how to avoid accidents.<\/p>\n
Handling items is one of the main activities for any warehouse worker and as such, it is a frequent source of issues. Boxes, pallets or cartons being dropped, mishandled or incorrectly stored can cause injuries as well as damaging equipment. The safe movement of products around your facility should be one of your main considerations when designing or redesigning the area.<\/p>\n
Workers in your warehouse are likely to spend a lot of time reaching, pulling and pushing items around or into place. When dealing with a heavy product the risks are clear, but even with materials that aren\u2019t weighty or bulky, the repeated action of lifting or carrying can cause repetitive strain injuries. To keep everyone safe, staff must be well trained in manual handling and made aware of the risks of repetitive actions. This way, minor injuries aren\u2019t allowed to develop into a permanent problem.<\/p>\n
Your racking, shelving and equipment are the backbones of your warehouse so it’s vital that they are kept in good shape. Never buy inferior products and always obey guidelines as to what type and weight of items can be stored where.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, forklift accidents can be serious. It is essential that anyone operating a lifting vehicle is properly trained and that this training is ongoing with regular refresher courses. This ensures that best practices are kept up to date and correct procedure isn\u2019t forgotten or neglected over time.<\/p>\n
A great way to minimise the risk of forklift accidents is to keep vehicles separate from pedestrians as much as possible. Using a live racking storage system, you can have aisles that are exclusively for the use of one group of workers, with a physical barrier between forklifts and pickers.<\/p>\n
Author:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Storage Ideas<\/p>\n