How to keep your warehouse safe
When it comes to warehouse safety, there are some safety factors that start to get overlooked. Safety procedures are often disregarded or forgotten about in a number of workplaces due to a lack of time, not enough resources, or an opportunity to cut corners with other aspects just to save some money. However, when safety procedures are implemented soundly, there are a lot of big benefits that come from it as a result, such as higher employee satisfaction, as well as benefiting from an increase in productivity.
When you take steps to minimise the risks of getting injured, there will be fewer accidents in the workplace, meaning less days off for employees and absenteeism because of an injury. Making sure equipment is safe is another factor to consider, when you look at your warehouse. So here are some of the things that you can do to keep your warehouse safe, and make sure that it is going to meet the needs of a health and safety inspection.
The risks
Warehouses can be dangerous places to work in, with a number of potential hazards and associated risks. These include things like:
- manual handling and musculoskeletal disorders
- slips and trips
- falling objects
- vehicles moving in and around the warehouse
- working at height
- lighting
- hazardous substances
- Fire
Of all of these potential risks, slip or trip accidents, moving and lifting, falling objects,and working at height, are some of the main things that will cause an injury, so that should be a focus for your business.
Risk assessment
The key thing to all of this is to manage the risks through risk assessment. This is the health and safety process where you evaluate the risks of processes or equipment to the health and safety of the employee. Then you can determine the measures that will be required to eliminate or reduce what could happen as a result. The risk assessment needs to point out key health and safety priorities and issues in the warehouse, so you can focus on where the key main concern areas are.
Warehouse Racking
A vital part of any warehouse and its infrastructure is warehouse racking. Warehouse racking can make the warehouse operations run smoothly and keep things going, or on the flip side, it can hinder warehouse operations if not working in the right way. When warehouse racking is done properly, then the space in the warehouse can be maximized, and it can help organise the warehouse to make it much more efficient and run a more streamlined picking process.
Training
Having a team of people working with you that knows what is going on and the best practices to follow is going to be key to avoid injuries. Although some written risk assessments are going to be vital in a warehouse, employees should also be trained to spot potential hazards and perform their own risk assessments before undergoing a task.
Keeping your warehouse safe, or even setting up a warehouse with safety in mind can be a long process, but Distribution Maintenance can definitely help. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help you. With years of experience, we can help you when it comes to the health and safety of your warehouse.
