Working closely with warehouse managers over the years has meant that we have a good understanding of their role, and how our products, such as our crash doors, can help them. One of the most important parts of the warehouse manager’s role is to look after health and safety - not only of the warehouse employees but visitors to the warehouse as well. Therefore, a large part of their daily undertakings revolves around managing traffic within the warehouse, to minimise the risk of accidents.
Obviously, traffic management covers a wide variety of tasks, and in this article, we have pulled together an overview of each area you need to think about:
Management Issues
- Ensure employees are kept up to date with safety issues
- Ensure employees are up to date with their health and safety training
- Encourage employees to report any health and safety issues they spot during their daily tasks
- Regular inspection of the workplace to identify health and safety issues early on
- Ensure any safety issues identified during the inspection have been fixed
Barriers
- Ensure any load shifting equipment areas are enclosed with suitable barriers to clearly establish safe zones for pedestrians and separate equipment areas.
- Place metal barriers in load shifting equipment areas to protect any employees who work in these areas
- Put right of way procedures in place, and ensure everyone sticks to these procedures
- Ensure there are separate access paths for pedestrians and equipment, by using products such as such as a flexible crash door
Layout
- Take a good look at the traffic flow within the warehouse, and ensure all pedestrian walkways, equipment roadways and loading bays are clearly marked
- Make sure that the number of blind spots, intersections and cross flows of traffic are kept to a minimum
Equipment
- Try and ensure all of the equipment within your warehouse is as pedestrian friendly as possible, and also do your best to ensure there is no need for pedestrians to ever cross paths with the forklifts.
- Ensure all incidents are reported immediately and handled effectively
- Clearly mark areas for load shifting equipment to park for loading purposes - ensuring these areas are well away from pedestrian areas
- Ensure a daily check procedure is in place for load shifting equipment, including brakes, hydraulics, and the horn.
Signage
- All load shifting equipment to have reflective markings and pedestrians to have high visibility vests
- Ensure there is adequate lighting throughout the warehouse
- Ensure all vehicles have warning lights and reversing beepers to help pedestrians to avoid them
- Ensure clear warning signs are prominently displayed in well-lit areas
Training
- All load shifting vehicle operators should be fully licensed and up to date with their training
- All employees should undergo a site safety induction before they are allowed to use the load shifting equipment
- Have a clear set of safety rules for load shifting vehicle operators, and make sure that everyone adheres to them
If you are a warehouse manager, dealing with safety issues, and you want to talk to us about our crash doors or any of our other products, then please call us today on 0333 999 7171 or send an email to sales@stripcurtainsdirect.co.uk if you prefer.
