Industrial Insurance: Key Steps to a Safer Warehouse

Health and safety is so important in warehouses, it’s a very dangerous place to work and can be filled with many known and hidden hazards. Whether it’s machinery, stock on high shelving or simple floor accidents it is vital to have a strict health and safety guide in place. If something were to happen and it’s obvious that there were not safety procedures in place then your insurance provider may say you are not covered.

Most accidents can be avoided if the right guidelines are followed, here is some advice on how to minimise dangers around the warehouse.

Heavy Duty Equipment

Full training should be provided for any sort of heavy machinery, offering regular refresher courses is also wise to remind the users of the basics to avoid things like complacency, taking risks and acknowledging damaged or worn out parts. These are all known dangers that and can be the biggest causes of accidents with heavy machinery.

Regular maintenance checks should be carried out by experts to make sure equipment is safe to use, for example is you are using a forklift it should have part checks to make sure parts like the Rollers, chains, forklift batteries and filters are all in working order. These checks will also give the staff members the confidence to use the equipment even if it is older.

Dangers on the floor

With everything happening in a warehouse most staff probably aren’t looking directly at the floor, but there can be a lot of spillages and during wet weather the floor again can become unsafe. Unsafe floors are the easiest accident to avoid, by simply putting up a warning sign down will catch staff member’s eyes and they’ll know to avoid the problem. It’s not something everyone would think to do though, training on how to handle these situations will help all the staff with this basic safety measure. It can be more than just a case of putting a sign up too, for example if it’s a chemical spill you may want staff to cover it with sawdust to avoid skin contact and further harm.

Another way to avoid tripping over is keeping the warehouse well-lit everywhere, if there are any changes to the flooring i.e. slopes or steps having signs will remind staff what to expect whilst moving around.

Risk of Falling

The most important risk as it statistically results highest for the reason for death in a warehouse. Being in a warehouse will likely mean having to work from a height from time to time, training and maintenance is key to avoiding this hazard. Staff being aware of the hazards and the impact will keep them alert to any questionable situations they might normally ignore. Negligence if very common with ladders whether its not having someone holding it at the bottom, using a damaged ladder or projectiles falling and hitting you at the bottom they can all be avoided by just being aware of the danger and not risking the implications.

Fire Safety

Fire safety is vital in a warehouse, it affects everyone in the building if something were to happen. Having all fire exits accessible is crucial for the safety of everyone in the building, but there are other procedures people can forget about. Having a designated smoking area well away from harmful substances will make the factory floor safer and more manageable, also keeping cables and wires neatly away and covered on the working floor.

The law now states that fire alarms must be checked weekly, by putting a fire safety expert in place (through training possibly) it will ensure the staff are correctly trained on what to do during any fire situations. A fire Marshall would also benefit the warehouse to demonstrate how to use the different extinguishers.

Avoiding Harmful Substances  

Warehouses can store all kinds of different product and substances, anything labelled toxic or hazardous should be treated with extra care. You could even add new procedures when storing or moving chemical cleaning products, Alkaline traction battery, gas and oils.

Handling Heavy Items

Whether its lifting a load manually of using machinery to do it there is always a correct and safe way to execute the handling of stock. Instruction manuals and demonstrations should always be available when it comes to using machinery to lift anything.

Correct posture or needing multiple staff to lift something should always be suggested around a warehouse. Staff and easily be injured over time if they are lifting something too heavy or incorrectly.