Kevin Collins
Introduction
There is more to warehouse safety than compliance with fire codes and OSHA
regulations. Unfortunately, too many warehouses and 3PLs look at safety as
meeting the minimum mandated by law or their conscience. Often, neither goes
far enough. In this chapter, we're going to look at Best Practices for
Warehouse Safety, discussing the benefits and risks to employees, managers and
employers of both creating a culture of safety in the warehouse, and failing to
do so.
For those companies that fail to promote safety, it is often due to insufficient
time, inadequate resources, or the opportunity to save money through corner
cutting. In the long run, however, a safe warehouse environment delivers
important cost savings through: higher employee satisfaction and increased
productivity, fewer workplace disruptions and reduced absenteeism and equipment
downtime. You can extend the life of your warehouse infrastructure such as
storage and material handling equipment, as well as reduce damage to inventory.
Most importantly, don't assume that a safe workplace carries a jaw-dropping
price tag.
Tip: By creating a safer workplace, you will also reduce damage to and loss of warehouse equipment and fixtures along with stored inventory.
While you will have to bear the cost (likely smaller than you think) of creating a culture of security in your operation, the responsibility buck also stops with you. Don't expect employees to drive it; establishing a safety culture, including the requisite operational changes and training and education programs, starts with you. It starts with rules and guidelines that your Mother probably told you decades ago. If you didn't start doing them when you were 10, it is about time.
Tip: Determining hazard classifications and code requirements calls for an expert to help you understand the details.
General
Housekeeping
While a warehouse is a controlled environment (albeit an often hectic and even
frenetic one), employees spend their workdays and nights subject to a wide
variety of potentially injury-causing hazards. Potential problems can instantly
materialize depending on what they are doing, the equipment in use and
materials handled.
Prevention of incidents and accidents (mortal or otherwise) begins with good
housekeeping, which is essential to a safe warehouse. This means heeding common
sense; keep docks and floors free of boxes, garbage, boxes, baling materials,
debris, dirt, and oil. Piles of trash and debris are a potential fire hazard
and hinder evacuation. Make sure that garbage and debris bins are available
throughout the warehouse.
Tip: Garbage bins are cheap. Buy enough to ensure that employees don't have to walk far to dump garbage. If they do, debris will accumulate. Make sure someone is in charge (usually the person responsible for building maintenance) of emptying them.
Some other essential, yet too often, overlooked housekeeping basics include:
Make sure that flooring surfaces are non-slippery and free of pits and dents Report loose or damaged flooring or other tripping hazards that need repair Don't leave box cutters or other sharp tools lying around Keep cords and wires off the floor Clean all spills immediately Don't leave items in aisles, on the floor, or stacked insecurely on flat surfaces Don't block extinguishers, sprinklers, or fire exits Create designated areas to store empty pallets and limit the stack height to six feet
Note: Battery charging areas require their own care. Common safety codes
usually demand specific safety measures, including ventilation, eye wash
first-aid stations, acid neutralization, and spill control systems.
Falls and Other Preventable Mishaps
Warehouse safety is designed to prevent death as well as far more common
accidents and non-lethal injuries. Workers can slip, trip, stumble, fall, or be
struck by falling objects, breaking hands, feet, toes and other body parts.
Many of these accidents could have been prevented had warehouse owners and
management followed some or all of the following recommendations:
Material Handling Safety: the human body, forklifts and equipment
While President Calvin Coolidge famously opined in the 1920s that "the business
of America is business," the business of warehouses is to move product and
materials. And moving material products and materials, whether manually or with
powered equipment, can be dangerous. Sources of danger and origins of hospital
visits range from box cutters, splinters on wooden pallets, and back injuries,
to forklifts and heavily ladened pallet jacks.
Tip: Teach employees that items can often be moved with equipment such as a dolly, a hand-truck, or a forklift. Use mechanical help wherever possible.
Although the
effects of slips, tumbles, forklift accidents, fires, and chemical spills are
usually apparent immediately or soon after the incident, most warehouse workers
ultimately suffer from the very common problem of back pain. The aggregate toll
of regular heavy lifting, stacking, bending, and twisting is painful; according
to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), warehouse
workers are at least eight times more likely to suffer back problems than other
workers,
Let's look now at some best practices that will reduce back problems, ensuring
fewer man days lost due to repetitive lifting.
Manual Lifting
Despite technology improvements, it is hard to envisage a warehouse any time in
the future where manual lifting will be completely absent. Some materials
simply must be moved by hand. If this is done improperly, the not surprising
result is injury. Not all of these injuries result from sudden trauma, however.
Many arise through accumulation of abuse. A minor injury can occur and
progressively worsen over time. For many workers, the result is a lifetime of
discomfort and chronic pain.
While proper lifting technique is critical to back health and safety, planning
is also important. Before moving a box or anything else, employees should ask
themselves a few quick questions: How heavy is it? Where does it need to go?
Does it have to be moved manually? If the answer to the latter is yes, then
employees should heed the following "rules" for material handling:
While back pain is certainly one of most noteworthy health challenges,
warehouse employees also suffer other shoulder, elbow, knee and feet ailments
such as pulled and strained muscles, pinched nerves, and sprains. Depending on
the repetitive task, employees can also suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, a
painful condition shared with many who spend their workdays typing.
Forklifts and Material Handling Equipment
Although forklifts and material handling equipment like pallet jacks and drum
trucks make moving heavy items much easier, they can become very dangerous when
used improperly. The first requirement is to provide training on all automated
or mechanical lift equipment. Employees who will be using forklifts should be
both trained and licensed by the appropriate authority. In addition to these
commonsense guidelines, here are some other suggestions to help employees avoid
damaging people or property when using forklifts and material handling
equipment:
Tip: Make sure employees know where the on/off and emergency stop buttons are on equipment they work on or around.
Fire Safety
Fire safety is a challenging balance. You have to weigh safety with the operational
needs of your facility and business. If you significantly reduce storage space
due to a very cautious safety plan, (such as installing in-rack sprinklers)
you'll reduce potential throughput volume and increase maintenance expenses.
True, you're probably reducing your hazard exposure, but how much protection do
you really need? How can you best determine whether your warehouse's fire
safety design and practices are sufficient? Hire an outside consultant.
The difference between a small fire and a catastrophic fire can often be
attributed to how much safety expertise was invested in the warehouse design
and later in its daily operation. The consultant will help you evaluate both of
these areas. An important supplemental benefit is that you'll be ready for a
visit from the local fire department.
Tip: Make sure that employee training includes locations of fire extinguishers and how to use them.
Fire Codes
and Inspections
The aim of fire codes is achievement of a minimum level of acceptable safety.
It shouldn't be surprising then that they can't cover every possible event such
as the unexpected hazard of a stricken airplane plunging into a building (see
the July 2000 Concorde disaster in which an Air France Concorde slammed into a
hotel and restaurant outside Paris shortly after takeoff).
While codes can't prevent these one-in-a-million occurrences, they are used to
determine building access, aisle widths, fire walls, smoke and heat removal
systems, flue space requirements and sprinkler density (including in-rack
sprinklers). In addition to confirming that the building meets code, fire
inspections also confirm the absence of hazards such as the presence of
flammable debris, blocked exits and aisles, missing fire extinguishers and exit
lights, as well as damaged sprinkler systems.
Tip: If you don't already do it, or your state still allows smoking on-site, do your employees' health a favor and outlaw smoking. Prohibit smoking in your warehouse and post no smoking signs.
Inviting
Your local Fire Department for Coffee and an Inspection
It is important to maintain a dialogue with your local fire department that
extends beyond the annual inspection. If you have added hazardous materials
among your inventory, you need to have this information available to the fire
fighters in the event of a blaze so they know what they are dealing with.
Tip: Pay attention to changes in packaging material as they can have a substantial impact on the flammability of materials in your warehouse.
Chemical
Safety
Chemicals in the warehouse, whether as part of operations or inventory, can
also create important safety risks. Using or storing them contrary to the
manufacturer's recommendations and fire codes can lead to serious personal
injury or fire risk. Make sure you have material safety data sheets available
for all chemicals used and stored on site. Knowledge of the chemicals should
include their usage, appropriate storage requirements, and first aid
procedures. Aerosols, for example, can become flaming rockets in the event of a
fire, necessitating specific storage regulations that vary depending on
chemical content.
Tip: Hazardous materials include a range of industrially-produced materials such as solids, gases, flammable liquids, explosives and oxidizers. Not surprisingly, they have their own codes.
Training and
Education
Employees and management training are critical and should be mandatory.
Training should also be more than just one or two days when employees are
trainees; continue it throughout employment. Everyone with cause to work in the
warehouse (from drivers and pickers to managers and accounting clerks) should
be trained. Don't let employees avoid training by accepting their claims that
they're experienced. They might need to have their bad habits exorcised and you
can do it with hands-on, experiential safety education that mixes lecture with
small group sessions.
Tip: Give pre- and post-training tests to confirm that employees have retained the information.
Integrate
safety training into regular operational procedures to ensure that battery
charging, propane cylinder handling and evacuation plans are part of the
employee's regular training program.
Tip: Educate senior management about occupational safety and health so
they will understand how it helps achieve business objectives.
Ye Olde School Fire Drill
Sure, they were fun in school. Later in life, adults, too, need to learn what
to do in the event of a fire or the sounding of the an alarm. Warehouse employees
should be advised during training to leave the building using the nearest exit
immediately upon hearing a fire alarm. Take into account that some employees
may have to complete certain tasks such as turning off equipment before fleeing
the building.
Tip: As part of training, ensure that employees responsible for shutting
down certain equipment understand the conditions when they should perform the
task or immediately leave.
Ensure that all employees are aware of:
Crime and Punishment
Education and safety are only effective if employees follow the teaching,
guidelines and rules. Safety is for the benefit of all employees, from the
trainee to the CEO. Compliance should be a condition of employment. It is vital
that everyone do their part-from properly unplugging electrical cords, to
driving forklifts at proper speeds. One way to ensure compliance is to
implement a progressive disciplinary program that, while punitive, is not
overbearing.
Tip: Make safety part of employment reviews. In addition to penalizing
employees for not following safety rules, reward them for making your operation
a safer place to work.
Safety in Your Own Home: making your workplace as safe as possible
Now that we've discussed the importance of making your warehouse operation a
safe one, how can you start? Step one is to conduct a safety audit. Invite an
outsider to visit your facility. That fresh pair of eyes may see existing or
potential problems that haven't caught the attention of those who see them
daily.
Some Order Through Striping
Make sure to designate floor storage and staging areas with striping. You can't
do too much floor striping. Use tape and/or paint to designate floor areas
approved for storage or material staging. It will bring order because everyone
will know exactly where to perform certain activities.
Encourage Employees to Report Unsafe Conditions
Encourage employees to report working conditions that they deem to be unsafe.
Empower your employees to err on the side of caution by creating an anonymous
reporting system
Pay Attention to Almost Accidents
Near misses help you identify trends and damage that portend worse things in
the future if the status quo continues. Lost days to injury do not tell a
complete story and the pain, suffering and time off work cost workers and
employers money.
Bad Things Will Happen to Good People
In spite of your best efforts and planning and training, accidents will happen.
When they do, don't concentrate completely on attributing fault and blame.
Investigate the causes, too. Look beyond the incident for causes that may exist
unnoticed in other past of your operation.
Do More Than the Minimum
Codes and compliance are only intended to provide a certain minimum level of
safety. The final recommendation when planning or incorporating safety into
your operation is to look to the future. Consider a design that is flexible and
capable of handling a higher hazard classification. If your business changes
and the products you are taking into inventory become more dangerous, or
flammable, etc, it can be very expensive to upgrade to accommodate the higher
hazard classification.
A Last Word on Safety
According to research, working in a warehouse is one of the 100 deadliest jobs
in the United States. Falling boxes and containers, forklift and other vehicle
accidents account for the majority of deaths. Focus on creating and maintaining
a warehouse environment where worker safety is paramount. Make safety part of
the daily job and you will lose fewer workers to death, dismemberment and days
off. Remember that warehouse deaths are almost always preventable.
Whether yours is an industrial, commercial or retail facility, your workers
should follow clear and known safety guidelines for material storage and
handling (conveyor systems, forklifts and pallet jacks, operation) as well as
the general housekeeping recommendations we began the chapter with.
Tip: Don't let anyone claim they don't have time for safety. Make sure
that management is aware of the importance of safety and incentivized to reduce
and eliminate hazards.
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