Warehouse safety should never be taken lightly. Insufficient safety measures can lead to accidents, operational downtime, product losses, property damages, and potential legal actions. This guide provides a comprehensive approach to increasing warehouse safety, protecting your bottom line, and ensuring the well-being of your employees.
1. Define and Protect Walkways Around Racking
One of the easiest ways to prevent accidents in the warehouse is by clearly defining and protecting walkways and work areas around racking. This can be achieved through lines painted on the floor or visual and physical barriers such as guardrails. These measures ensure that pedestrians and vehicles have defined routes, keeping them separate and reducing the risk of collisions.
2. Equip Your Warehouse with Guardrail and Safety Gates
Guardrails and safety gates serve as an excellent line of defense for warehouse equipment. Not only do they protect the equipment, but they also safeguard mezzanines/platforms, conveyor systems, machinery, electrical panels, and building features. This ensures easy access and flexibility of use for warehouse operators while maintaining a high level of safety.
3. Shield Your Rack from Forklift Damage
High-traffic areas within the warehouse are often prone to accidents, particularly those involving forklifts. Using guardrails can go a long way in protecting your rack from forklift damage, thus saving you from costly repairs and potential downtime.
4. Prevent Rack Columns from Structural Damage
Rack columns are a critical part of the warehouse infrastructure. Protecting them from structural damage is crucial for maintaining the integrity of your inventory. Freestanding steel rack protectors can effectively safeguard the rack columns’ base plate and lower leg.
5. Deflect Impact to the Rack with Snap-On Solid Steel Protectors
Snap-on solid steel protectors are a cost-effective way to deflect and absorb impact to the rack face. They easily attach to the rack’s teardrop holes, providing extra protection for your inventory.
6. Install Rub Rails in Narrow Aisles
Rub rails are especially useful in narrow aisles or high-traffic areas with a higher risk of damage. They protect the end-of-rack aisles and prevent the column from twisting when hit.
7. Protect Your Inventory from Falls and Fires
Using pallet load stop beams can prevent pallets of product from being accidentally pushed off the back of a rack during loading or unloading. By keeping pallets in the proper position with sufficient clearance, pallet load stop beams also facilitate better fire suppression from overhead sprinklers in the event of a warehouse fire.
8. Secure Non-Standard Load Sizes with Load Supports
For non-standard load sizes, consider using load supports to help keep inventory from falling between the rack beams that support the product.
9. Keep Loose Products from Falling Off Racks
Protect loose products from falling off racks by installing barriers or netting. This not only enhances safety but also prevents inventory loss.
10. Train Employees to Prevent Accidents and Inspect Racking Regularly
Last, training employees to prevent accidents and regularly inspect racking is crucial. Safety training can help warehouse operators identify potential hazards and take preventive measures.
Implementing Effective Warehouse Safety Measures
The safety and efficiency of a warehouse are significantly improved by properly managing non-standard load sizes, preventing loose items from falling off racks, and regularly training employees to prevent accidents and conduct inspections. By adhering to these principles and incorporating tools like load supports and rack decking options, warehouses can minimize inventory loss and create a safer environment for employees. Hence, such strategies must be implemented not just as an afterthought but as integral aspects of warehouse management.
Enhancing warehouse safety does not have to be a daunting task. By implementing these easy tips, warehouse operators can significantly reduce accidents, protect their inventory, and safeguard their bottom line.
For more information, call Steel King at (800) 826-0203 or visit them online at www.steelking.com.