Take a look around your warehouse. Is everything as it should be? Health and safety in a warehouse can often go overlooked, either through poor training or a lack of available information to hand, resulting in damage to stock and accidents and injuries to employees.
With the right training and safety notices in place, accidents that occur in warehouse facilities can be dramatically reduced.
Here are 4 simple tips to create a safer warehouse working environment for everyone:
- Implement effective signposting
If you focus on only the signposts in any work environment, you will quickly realise just how valuable—and numerous—they are. Using either visual images, lettering or a mix of the two, signs can indicate a number of important safety messages, from directing employees to fire exits, warning staff about hazardous materials or areas, to reminders of basic health and safety procedures that are easily forgotten about, such as a heavy lifting.
- Set up regular staff training
All employees should receive the appropriate health and safety training when they start working in a warehouse environment. After that, regular training sessions can help top up employee knowledge.
- Proper storage facilities
It’s common sense that certain items such as hazardous or dangerous goods require specialist storage in case of any leaks or damage done to the protective casing, but even the safest of products can be potentially dangerous when stored incorrectly. Pallet storage should be regularly checked for any structural damage, and employees should be aware of what items can be stored safely on different types of storage.
- Mandatory safety wear
High visibility vests and hard hats should be worn by all members of staff who work where there is a greater danger of things falling overhead, or areas where forklift and pedestrian traffic mix, with penalties given to those who forget. Gloves and safety goggles should be worn when handling potentially dangerous or hazardous materials.
With so many potential dangers in a busy warehouse environment, it is essential that all personnel, from employees to managers, know how to spot safety hazards and how and where they can be reported.
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