Warehouses can be used for a variety of different business and commercial purposes, but a common element for all these uses is that they’re all potentially dangerous places if they’re not managed properly. Whether it’s the manual lifting of products, the storing of hazardous substances or using heavy equipment and machinery injuries unfortunately can and do happen.
So to ensure your warehouse is a safe and well-managed environment for your workforce and clients you need to have the right measures in place. This is where this post can help, as within it you will find some helpful advice to point you in the right direction to reduce the risk of injury in your warehouses.
Get Fully Assessed
This is more convenient if you’re about to begin using a warehouse as it’s easier when setting up your operations to assess and manage the potential risks. If you’re currently using a warehouse then you should take the time to invest in a having a new risk assessment conducted. This way you will know exactly what work-specific dangers your staff need to be aware of.
Make sure your Staff are Informed
With the above comes educating your employees. Not only do they need to understand and know what immediate injury risks they could face, they should be taught correct procedures and protocols for their tasks. Whether they’re using machinery or handling materials, full training should be given. Equally having a sound knowledge of emergency exits is another imperative part of this.
Make sure your Staff are Prepared
While there are legal requirements to carryout fire drills and to make sure your staff are fully-trained, but there are other ways to make sure they are prepared. You could setup surprise questionnaires or quizzes on safe practice surrounding your particular warehouse and test your staff’s understanding. Not only will this show you who needs to improve but it will ultimately help your employees to understand which safety areas they need to brush up on.
Invest in the Right Equipment
Another significant means of reducing the risk of injury is to make sure your equipment and machinery is reliable, high-quality and will serve you well. You may invest in high-quality equipment by purchasing a lift truck for sale online with great reviews. Furthermore the work-clothing your employees need, should be equally as high-quality to provide the right level of protection. This makes sense from a business perspective as well because the longer life-span you’ll get from better products means in the long run, you’ll spend much less on having to update or replace them.
So there you have it, a few steps which although quite simple in their approach can be very effective in reducing the risks of injury in your warehouses.
