Warehouses can be dangerous places so keeping their health and safety compliant is vital to the well-being of your staff, efficiency of your business, and overall success.
With so many risks and hazards, it can be hard to keep up and stay compliant so we have put together a comprehensive list of requirements to maintain a safe warehouse with minimal injuries, low employee turnover, and zero fatalities. Read on to find out what you can do.
1. Keep Floors Clean and Tidy
Messy and dirty floors are an injury waiting to happen. Ensure your floors are clear of fallen items and any spills are cleaned up immediately.
If possible, add anti-slip paint to floors to reduce the risk of your staff slipping and falling.
2. Provide PPE
Whether it’s steel-toed boots or high-vis jackets, you must issue your staff with the necessary PPE for their safety. If you have debris flying around in areas like the warehouse loading dock, give your staff protective goggles and hard hats.
3. Keep Manuals Handy
All staff should have training for each piece of equipment but keep manual and information to hand for quick checking.
This is particularly prudent for pallet lifters and other load-bearing equipment that has maximum loads to avoid injury and breaking the machinery. Educating staff is conducive to a safer working environment. Moreover, keeping your manuals and important documents handy will improve your chances of getting recertified.
4. Cover Wires
Trailing wires can be tripped over or pulled by accident, leading to injury and electrical faults. Make sure that keep wires covered with plastic cable covers to avoid any issues.
Purchase proper channeling rather than tape which can peel off, leading to further hazards.
5. Check Your Racking
Racking is built to be sturdy and strong but ensure you are checking it regularly for any screws that need tightening or for any damaged areas that may weaken the structure.
6. Add Nets
If your racking or shelving runs high, add netting to avoid staff being injured by any falling items.
7. Have an Emergency Plan in Place
As much as you can try to avoid any harm coming to your employees or the warehouse itself, accidents can sometimes unfortunately be unavoidable.
Have a proper emergency plan in place so your staff knows exactly what to do if something goes wrong.
8. Offer Proper Training
Manual Handling, lifting and first aid should be mandatory for most of your employees. Ensure that only trained workers are operated heavy machinery, using forklifts and other heavy machinery items.
This is not only integral to the wellbeing of your employees but your insurance will also be invalid and you will liable for any incidents that occur.
9. Place Correct Signage
You are legally required to display health and safety signs and warnings to ensure you are adhering to your state’s rules.
Add extra signs and labels to aisles, bins, and shelving for your staff’s convenience so they are not milling around the warehouse and reaching around shelves to find items that could put them at risk of injury.
Do you have any other safety tips to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!
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