Warehouse Safety in 6 Steps

With hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers across the nation, the fatal injury rate is surprisingly high. Higher than the national average in fact. By implementing several different solutions and to be on the lookout for potential hazards, accidents can hopefully become part of the past.

Potential hazards that are more common include:

• Unsafe operations of forklifts
• Repetitive motion injuries
• Lockout/tagout failure
• Inadequate fire safety procedures
• Use of broken or proper personal safety equipment
• Unsafe stacking of boxes or products

Along with those main hazards we can take a look at OSHA’s 10 most cited infractions:

1. Forklifts
2. Hazard communication
3. Electrical wiring methods
4. Electrical and system designs
5. Guarding floor and wall opening along with holes
6. Exits/entrances
7. Mechanical power transmission
8. Respiratory protection
9. Lockout/tagout
10. Fire extinguishers and fire safety

So what can you do to help make a warehouse safer? Here are 6 easy steps to take:

1. Get organized
   1. Building and installing a smooth operating system for employee’s not only keeps them safe, it increases productivity. Clearly visible labels, floor markers, warning and safety signs, organized shelving, etc.
2. Protecting people from hazardous equipment and areas.
   1. Clear warning signs and stickers on dangerous equipment
   2. Rules and enforcement of safety standards
   3. Personal protective equipment
3. Forklift safety
   1. Forklifts are the cause of roughly 100 workplace deaths each year. Having trained operators, safety signage and a culture of safety in place and help to decrease this number. Collison alert system, signs, mirrors, and flashing lights can also help to increase awareness of moving forklifts
4. Slips and falls protection
   1. Slipping or falling at workplaces account for about 40% of all workplace injuries. Anti-slip mats, floor markings, and well gripped shoes can decrease accidents.
5. Teaching importance of correct body posture and lifting
   1. Back injuries may occur from improper lifting or over exertion. By providing ergonomics training and task-specific training on the proper way to lift or push objects. Minimizing the need for physical lifting by having good warehouse design and engineering techniques. Products over 50lbs should be team lifted and hand trucks can aid in moving heavier loads without physically lifting.
6. Fostering a culture of safety
   1. Management should have a safety system in place to teach incoming employee’s and to remind current workers. Having such systems in place help to continually remind those to be on the lookout for unsafe practices. Such ways of reminding could include safety signs, daily or weekly safety meetings, lockout/tagout, mirrors, safety lights and general attitude of seriousness when it comes to the wellbeing of others.

To see a wider range of safety signage check out our Warehouse Safety selection. OSHA also has some handy tips. 

If you want to see if your company parking lot is up to safety codes, check out this post: 9 Signs Ever Parking Lot Should Have