Warehouses have the potential to be very dangerous places. Considering the products in boxes stacked high, sometimes to the ceiling, with heavy machinery rolling around at the ground level and hundreds of workers moving through the warehouse floor during the day.
These factors can all interact in a variety of ways to produce terrible results, and one of the few things that can minimize this risk is a properly installed and maintained warehouse safety system.
A two-tier trolley system can save countless dollars in products and potentially the livelihoods of employees when it provides a safer alternative to carrying heavy boxes by hands and risking damaged spines. To properly illustrate the importance of defined safety systems in warehouse management, we have written up a comprehensive exploration on the topic.
Personal safety
The first and most important aspect of safety in a warehouse environment is personal safety.
Personal safety refers to the physical safety of all people present in the warehouse at any given time and is measured by everything from minor injuries such as temporary hearing damage and minor cuts and scratches to serious bodily injury and death.
Personal safety is important for a number of reasons, but aside from the obvious ones of keeping oneself alive, as well as one’s colleagues and visitors to one’s workplace, it is important for insurance policies and national industry standards.
An unsafe workplace can be shut down by a work safe inspector within a day, and because these inspectors don’t need to give any notice before they arrive for an inspection, you can be caught out and suffer heavy penalties for an unsafe workplace.
Product safety
Next up on the chopping block is product safety.
The safety of your workers is highly important, but the safety of the product you store in said warehouse is arguably equally important, as it is the manufacture and sale of that product that allows those workers to feed and clothe themselves and their families.
The safety of your product is threatened by unsafe warehouse conditions, because things like moisture buildup and inconvenient storage locations can result in destroyed or damaged product. This would mean that the company takes losses and the warehouse manager is responsible for not maintaining a well organised warehouse.
Avoiding this by installing safety systems and setting up fail safes for product placement should be prioritised, and has the added benefit of reducing employee health and safety risks.
Employee’s state of mind
Finally, you have your employee’s state of mind to consider. A warehouse that runs well is a job that is satisfying and doable to the average warehouse worker, but one that is not organised properly or safely can seriously impact on an employee’s mental health. A dangerous work environment can seem like a ticking time bomb to an aware worker, and this can negatively impact their work ethic and comfort levels on the job.
Your turnover rate for employees will increase, and your image as an employer will dwindle, all of which can severely damage your company’s reputation. Not only this, the employees that do stay will be more statistically likely to be the ones to injure or maim themselves on the job, which means your more loyal and hardworking employees are the ones that run the risk of permanent disability due to a job related accident.
Nobody wants the threat of bodily harm hanging over their heads, so installing and correctly maintaining a security system is the next logical step when it comes to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of yourself and your workers, not to mention your precious product. Don’t put it off a moment longer, start investigating safety systems today to avoid the consequences of being unprepared.