You undoubtfully know them: videos in which forklift drivers hit a rack, which leads to everything falling over like dominoes. Resulting in many valuable goods that you lose. Despites your stock, if anything falls, chances are big that you cannot use it anymore. But besides the costly articles, you risk (temporarily) losing something much more valuable. In this example, I am talking about the forklift driver. It is your duty to create a safe working environment for your employees. For them, their families and your own organization. That is why you can find several areas of attention for a safe warehouse.
Handle dangerous goods safely
A safe warehouse is especially necessary if you store dangerous goods. With these kind of goods an accident can have major consequences. Not only for your organization, but even for the entire environment. Find out how you can deal with these goods in this
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A safe warehouse begins with your business culture
Most expressions of behavior are due to nurture and the environment. A child does what his parents taught him, but will also copy others on the playground. Adults are not that different. Usually, people tend to behave themselves to the present business culture. Therefore, it is up to you to create and secure one. Are you lucky enough to welcome a new employee? Then it is necessary to properly train this new force. And if you do so, focus next to the obligatory hygiene courses also on safety. Following, attach clear rules and remind your employees with signs in your warehouse. This way everyone knows what kind of behavior leads to a safe working environment. And does an employee still drive around the corner without honking its horn? Then his colleague has some supporting material to point out the rules. Besides the fact that he almost lost a toe, of course.
Obligate safety working clothes in your warehouse
This brings me to the next point. Despite the fact that you can prevent most accidents, you cannot exclude them for a full 100%. For this reason it is crucial to obligate safety shoes for your employees. You can buy these for your permanent employees, and arrange a deposit agreement with temporary workforce. Where shoes with steel noses limit the consequences of an accident, reflecting clothes help you preventing them. A bright orange or yellow vest is already enough. For example, who of the two gentlemen stands out more? Your forklift- or pallet car driver probably chooses the same option.
Introduce a tight infrastructure for a safe warehouse
The example from the introduction – falling racks – could not be prevented with clear rules and sturdy shoes. But it could have been prevented by widening the aisles, for example. In that case, the driver would not cause all the racks to collapse. This brings is to our last attention area: the setup of your warehouse. This is a very broad attention point and can therefore offer you a lot. Besides steady racks and wide aisles, you can think about crossover paths, traffic signs and signals, and clear seperations of walking paths and workspaces. Or make sure that there are convex mirrors on each crossroad, so everyone knows what is coming. Also, a clear setup on the floor contributes to the safety. With color areas or outlines you can point out emergency exits, parking spots or fire extinguishers for example. Everything for a safe work environment.
Free hands for more safety
If your employees have free hands, they can react more adequately on danger. They have a better overview and are able to grab on anything, might something go wrong. You can realize this by integrating voice picking in your warehouse. Besides safety, this also boosts your efficiency and quality.
Create a safe warehouse for your employees
In the current labor market, good staff is one of your moest valuable posessions. Besides the risk of accidents anad temporarily losing an employee, you are obligated to them to create a safe working environment. Because even an almost-accident can cause you losing an employee. With these attention areas you do not have to invest a lot, while you still invest in your staff.