5 Safety Equipment and Tips to Reduce Injuries in Your Warehouse

In the hustle to get work done, it can be all too easy to become complacent and let safety measures go by the wayside. But that’s a surefire way to a future filled with accidents and injuries. The easiest way to keep your employees safe and your warehouse running efficiently? Establish a strong safety culture that your employees will actually want to be a part of.

Here are some important safety equipment tips and warehouse protocols to keep your employees safe and knowledgeable.

Put Protocols In Place

If you want a safe warehouse, with few to no workplace accidents, it all starts with good communication and proper protocols.

• Start by scheduling regular warehouse best practices training. Whether you’ve updated your safety manual or just want to hold an in-house training meeting, it’s always a good idea to make sure all of your employees are up to speed on warehouse safety and various safety equipment.

• Create an inspection checklist and appoint your most responsible employees to go through it at least twice a day.

• Post signs with general warehouse safety rules in strategic areas. You should have signage pointing out all flammable materials, fall risks, dangerous chemicals, and hard hat-only zones. By providing easy-to-read visuals, you can make sure that everyone is on the same page in terms of safety.

• Provide all of your employees with a readily accessible emergency contact list.

• Also post safety rules and guides for each piece of equipment, like these “7 Rules for Drum Handling Safety.”

Provide All The Proper Safety Equipment

To protect employees from hazardous materials or dangerous situations, proper safety equipment is critical. This includes (but is not limited to) the following items:

You’ll also need to perform regular safety equipment inspections, But the cost of the equipment and the time to inspect them are small expenses compared to the extremely costly and sometimes tragic accidents they can help prevent. Safety in your warehouse should always be the number one priority.

Train Personnel

Your personnel should be consistently and properly trained to use any job-specific equipment and safety products. All employees should be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to successfully and safely perform their job tasks (or emergency protocol) without the need to be micromanaged. This starts with easy-to-understand training.

To keep employees from losing interest or getting overwhelmed, keep each training session to about 45-60 minutes. Make sure the training is practical and conducted by a supervisor. Keep it upbeat and interactive to engage your staff and get them energized about safety.

Eliminate Tripping Hazards

Slipping and tripping are the easiest accidents to prevent. Yet the U.S. Department of Labor has found that nearly 25 percent of workplace injuries each year are caused by simple slips and trips. To avoid these accidents, there are some quick fixes you can easily implement on your warehouse floor.

• When there’s a spill of liquids or packing materials, encourage employees to immediately help clean it up. Install a few “cleaning stations” on your warehouse floor. This can include paper towels, cleaning solutions, a broom and dustpan, and a mop and bucket. If possible, try to locate these stations near sinks. If this isn’t doable, opt for small spill kits.

• Make sure stray cords, equipment, or any other items are up off the floor or out of the way of walkways to avoid unnecessary tripping.

• Make sure to keep up on basic floor maintenance, like filling cracks and pits in the floor, which could not only trip employees but also damage expensive equipment.

• Does your facility have stairways, walkways, or catwalks that are commonly wet? Consider installing non-slip flooring or using a non-skid floor coating.

While these tips may sound like extremely basic measures, they are vital in keeping your employees safe while on the warehouse floor.

Avoid the Need to Climb

While most activity in a warehouse occurs on the ground floor, fall-related injuries and fatalities remain a huge problem. Employees sometimes attempt to climb racks to retrieve something or put it in its place by themselves to be more efficient. However, your employees are risking serious injury or even death in doing so.

To avoid nasty falls, make sure your employees are using the proper drum handling equipment, stackers, lift tables, and material handling stackers to do any heavy lifting.

By establishing a safety-based culture and enforcing consistent guidelines and protocols, injuries in your warehouse will be reduced and morale will improve significantly.

Want a jumpstart on improving your company’s safety standards? Contact Handling Concepts today. Our knowledgeable customer service team is here to help.