How to Improve Your Warehouse Safety

According to the HSE, there are thousands of accidents and injuries in the warehousing sector every year. In some cases, these result in fatalities. While sometimes it’s not possible to eliminate risk, you should reduce it as much as possible. By making warehouse safety a priority, managers and owners can reduce the risks to employees and their businesses.

What are the most common risks to warehouse safety?

Warehouse accidents and injuries fall into five main categories:

• Slips and trips,
• Manual handling,
• Working from height,
• Getting struck by vehicles in and around the warehouse,
• Workers being hit by moving or falling objects,

To reduce the risk of injury to employees, warehouse safety measures should focus on these areas.

Warehouse safety measures you should put in place TODAY

Use manual handling equipment when lifting or moving heavy loads

Make sure that employees have access to the right equipment when moving or handling heavy loads. Equipment like pallet trucks and scissor lifts eliminate the need for bending or straining to lift loads.

Pay attention to general housekeeping to improve your warehouse safety

Make sure the working environment is free from hazards that could cause slips and falls. So this means wiping up spillages immediately and making sure the floor is free from stray cables and debris.

Use strategic signage

This is a cost-effective way to ensure warehouse safety. Signage can alert employees and visitors to any hazardous materials and equipment and point them to emergency exits.

Train employees and keep training up to date

This is a must. Warehouse safety training can increase awareness of safety procedures and give employees the knowledge they need to use the equipment. 

Ensure employees wear the right safety gear and PPE

Workers should wear protective equipment like hard hats, gloves, safety boots, masks and eye protection without exception. So that everyone is safe while using the equipment.

Encourage employees to communicate with each other

Many warehouse accidents and injuries could be avoided if employees just communicated with each other better. For example, alerting other workers that a forklift is coming through and making them aware of any hazards they’ve identified. 

Stack warehouse products safely

In a busy warehouse, injuries from falling objects can easily occur. Paying attention to load limits for shelving and how you stack goods in the first place can help keep things safe.  

Encourage the safe use of vehicles

All employees who use forklifts should be properly trained. So, training should focus on safe and proper use, including not exceeding speed limits or driving recklessly.

Keep up to date with emergency drills

Fire drills can often feel like a tick box exercise. Firstly, when it comes to warehouse safety, keeping them up to date can be the difference between life and death. Secondly, everyone should know what to do in the event of a fire and how to evacuate safely.

Warehousing is an inherently risky business, but accidents and injuries aren’t inevitable. However, we hope this warehouse safety advice will help protect your employees and your business from harm. For more tips and interesting articles, check out the rest of our blog.