Safety is the most important thing to get right in a warehouse or industrial environment. Yes, it’s important that a warehouse is laid out appropriately and that it’s running efficiently. It’s also important that the warehouse is contributing to the business it serves and that that business is profitable.
But the most important part of warehouse operations is safety.
Nobody wants to get hurt at work, and everybody deserves to be able to go home at the end of the day. Safety in warehouses is of paramount importance and should be discussed every day. It should be a core element of a warehouse team’s culture.
Although a blog article like this one shouldn’t be a replacement for extensive safety training for warehouse staff, we feel it’s a good start in reminding people of the importance of safety while also maintaining discussions about safety. So take a look at our tips and make sure you’re not missing anything.
Tip 1. Make Sure All Workers Have Safety Equipment and PPE
This may be a basic safety tip, but by getting the basics right you promote a culture of safety while also creating a good amount of protection for workers.
Depending on the requirements of a specific warehouse, safety equipment and PPE may go beyond simple hi vis clothing. Gloves, helmets, and eye protection may also be needed. Whatever is required to be worn to be safe on the job must be worn while on the warehouse floor. It’s up to warehouse managers and supervisors to enforce this, but it also takes a culture of safety for all team members to enforce it amongst themselves.
While you’re assessing PPE, also make sure that all safety and emergency equipment is easily accessible and working. This means that garbage isn’t piled up in front of the first aid kit and fire safety equipment actually works.
Tip 2. Hold Safety Courses And Do Refreshers
A lot of warehouses are great at holding general safety courses from time to time as well as doing proper safety inductions for new employees. But then they just leave it there and never make sure the safety knowledge and procedures stay with people working in the warehouse.
If your warehouse is doing regular safety courses and proper inductions, good job. But when was the last time you ran a refresher for your more veteran staff who may have forgotten some of the elements of the training?
Tip 3. Hold Drills And Practice
While everybody is being refreshed on safety procedures, it’s also worthwhile to hold a drill or a practice for an emergency. These should be done regularly.
Fires can happen at any time and anywhere, and it’s important for warehouse workers to know what to do in an emergency like this. Another important aspect of ongoing warehouse safety is what to do if someone has been physically injured, practice this too.
By practicing when there’s not an emergency happening, workers will be more calm and able to handle an emergency should it happen.
Tip 4. Label Hazards And Dangerous Areas
Warehouse safety relies on preventing accidents, and accidents can be avoided if people are able to see that there may be a hazard.
Where you can, make sure that pedestrian traffic is separated from forklift traffic, and have these areas specifically marked off with floor paint and signage. In shared areas, signage can keep everyone aware of potential hazards.
While sometimes it can be difficult to completely remove a danger, you can mitigate against it.
Tip 5. Remove Hazards Where Possible
If you can remove something that may cause an accident, though, it should be removed. Make the removal of dangers everybody’s job.
This goes down to something small like removing garbage immediately or cleaning up spills quickly, up to larger jobs like proper reporting of a damaged floor that may cause a tripping hazard. This also means conducting regular checks for something new that may have arisen. By promoting a culture of warehouse safety, all workers should feel comfortable working together to remove dangers as they come up.
Tip 6. Install Guard Rails And Pallet Racking Protection
Guard rails and pallet racking protection are there in the hopes that they never become useful. However, you’d much rather a forklift run into a guard rail or protection for pallet racking than it runs into a person or damages pallet racking causing a collapse.
In our experience, warehouse managers often try to cut corners when it comes to guard rails and other physical barriers on site. These can be expensive and inconvenient to install, but they’re well worth it thanks to the safety they ensure.
Tip 7.Enforce Safe Lifting Methods And Use Materials Handling Equipment Correctly
With a good warehouse team, everybody just wants to get the job done. Unfortunately an attitude of getting the job done can often lead to people working too quickly, which leads to poor lifting practices and misuse of materials handling equipment in order to work faster.
Whether it’s because the team is behind schedule or just very motivated, there’s never a reason to be unsafe when lifting. If the team is tempted to lift incorrectly or misuse materials handling equipment, stop and re-evaluate before proceeding.
Tip 8. Keep Materials Handling Equipment And Other Machinery Well Maintained
Well maintained equipment is safe equipment.
For a warehouse to operate safely, all the equipment in that warehouse needs to be in proper working order without the risk of malfunction. Of course equipment breaks and needs to be serviced from time to time, but there should be procedures in place to deal with this.
Don’t put off equipment maintenance, it can lead to an accident.
Tip 9. Optimise Your Warehouse Layout
A well optimised warehouse isn’t just about making sure it’s profitable and running smoothly. It’s also about safety. Optimised warehouses don’t have tripping hazards slowing workers down, they have logical order and are easy to navigate without the possibility of bumping other workers or straying into the path of a forklift, materials handing equipment is easily accessible. These things keep are warehouse running well and also safe.
Tip 10. Conduct Frequent Pallet Racking Inspections
By law, pallet racking needs to be professionally inspected yearly. Ideally though, pallet racking should be inspected more frequently than that.
Pallet racking can be safe if it’s been installed correctly, used correctly, and has regular maintenance and inspection for damage. Pallet racking with damage has the risk of collapse which can injure people and damage stock. That’s why warehouses shouldn’t just rely on a single yearly inspection to determine if their pallet racking is safe. Instead, warehouses should do thorough inspections at least monthly to stay ahead of any damage or maintenance issues that may come up.
Stay Safe In Warehouses
As we’ve already mentioned, this is hardly a complete guide to warehouse safety, but it’s a good start. Safety is something that should be thought of at every moment while working in a warehouse, and hopefully this list keeps the conversation going.
