Finding & Fixing Warehouse Hazards

Day-to-day warehouse operations present an array of potential hazards for your warehouse workers.  According to OSHA, the top hazards that cause work-related injuries and fatalities are:

• Unsafe use of forklifts
• Improper stacking of products
• Failure to use proper personal protective equipment
• Failure to follow proper lockout/tagout procedures
• Repetitive motion injuries

So, it actually saves you time and money in the long run to invest in a regularly scheduled Safety Analysis along with a routine Preventative Maintenance Plan.

Three Steps To Safety – Identify, Plan & Control

Our role as material handling equipment specialists is to provide you with an awareness of any equipment hazards and educate you on how to maintain safety in your work environment.  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 – Identify, Plan & Control!

1. Identify

– Identify a need for equipment safety and routine maintenance. Is there daily wear and tear on your equipment?  Have you ever had to rig something to make it work?  Have you ever questioned the safety of some equipment?  Minor accident or two that could’ve been prevented with a few steps?

Start now – you can prevent accidents and breakdowns before they happen.  Find a qualified warehouse maintenance partner with a certified team – like us!  We’ll create for your specific work environment, customized, documented procedures for safety inspections, routine maintenance, along with emergency plans and needed education for your workers.

2. Plan

– A comprehensive safety analysis provides the foundation for a plan. Identifying potential hazards with your equipment and operations keeps you ahead of the game by preventing accidents and downtime due to equipment breakdown.

Ensuring a safe working environment is a proactive, ongoing process which requires a team who understands industrial equipment and its unique usage patterns, challenges, and common hazards.  For instance, loading docks require an experienced eye looking for malfunctioning equipment, loose industrial door tracks, or lack of collision awareness products in high traffic areas.  Conveyor systems require a different set of solutions to avoid pinch points and awkward repetitive worker motions.  With material and pallet storage, one should be looking for properly balanced loads and well-anchored equipment. Working at heights over 4’ requires a knowledge of proper fall protection.

Our experienced team of material handling specialists can provide you with a safety and preventative maintenance plan that makes sense.  They’ll conduct a thorough walk-through of your dock and storage facility while studying your work operations.  They’ll collect, review, and record the working condition of all related equipment and go over findings with you upon completion.  You’ll be provided with a detailed written report explaining what they found along with suggested preventative solutions.

3. Control

– Prevention is worth a pound of cure! Once you’re equipped with the documented condition of your equipment, you’ll have more control over how to handle safety within your work areas. You’ll also be better equipped to prioritize preventative maintenance, repairs and/or replacement of your equipment.

Ultimately, our common goal is to ensure that every worker goes home to their family safe and sound – after every shift.  We recommend you start today with our no-obligation walk-through of your facility to review existing equipment with you.

For most customers on our Preventative Maintenance Plans, our site visit range is within a 50-mile radius of zip code 75220.  Contact us today to find out if you’re within our service area. 800-442-3061