Ensuring your warehouse environment is safe is paramount to your business’ survival. There are many simple yet effective warehouse safety ideas for reducing risks to your employees and creating a safer working environment.

When operating a warehouse, proper safety procedures are essential to ensure accidents and unprecedented circumstances are kept to a minimum. 

The scale of workforce involved, machinery used, use of pallet racking systems and their sizes, and storage of heavy items can all be a hazard in the workplace. 

Sometimes accidents are unavoidable, however there are several steps your business can take to avoid health and safety breaches and live up to ethical codes to ensure a safe and secure working environment.

Here are our warehouse safety ideas to reduce the risk of accident or injury. 

Design a clear operating system

Big pieces of machinery, large crates, and sizable pallet racking and shelving are always present in a warehouse. Navigating amongst bulky items and structures can prove difficult at times, especially when there is no clear line of sight. 

However, this issue can be resolved by creating a clear plan for movement to adhere to in and around the warehouse. Similar to a road or car park, you should create a mobility structure to indicate which directions to move in around certain areas of the warehouse. 

Creating a clear operating system reduces the chance of collision and ensures all workers are safely moving in the same direction. Safety signage should also be displayed clearly and everything be intuitive and easy to follow. 

SEMA approved racking inspections

In a warehouse, pallet racking can sometimes cover every inch of available space. It is an essential part of any warehouse to house products and goods and a piece of equipment that your workers will come into regular contact with. 

Pallet racking that is unstable or damaged has the potential to cause serious injury or even worse. It is strongly advised that you should have your pallet racking reviewed by a SEMA approved inspector at least once a year. 

By making sure your racking is secure can avoid many preventable problems such as wear and tear and damage and poor construction that can lead to instability and collapse, falls, and putting your warehouse staff at risk. 

Minimise clutter

Unnecessary clutter can lead to potential trip hazards, entanglement, and cause injury due to falling objects. By maintaining a clean and clear working environment, these dangers can easily be avoided. 

Organisation and clear line of sight is essential for avoiding warehouse problems. Take time to devise a strategy to ensure everything has its own assigned place and can be stored safely and effectively.

Educate and train

Things change and workplaces evolve over time. Sometimes complacency can become an issue and because of this a one-off training process isn’t enough. From time to time, your warehouse workers may need reminding and updating to ensure they are following the correct procedures. 

We recommend providing your employees with regular training to refresh key skills and safety information. 

Contact us on 0800 345 7088 to discuss your storage needs, or email sales@advanced handling.co.uk. 

With us, support continues after the sale, and we strive to form strong customer relationships, providing you with dedicated advisors you can contact for any advice.