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National Safety Month, observed every June, is a dedicated time to bring awareness to warehouse safety in order to prevent accidents and reduce the risk of injuries. Warehouses are often filled with industrial shelving stacked high with inventory or heavy machinery such as forklifts. These setups, without the proper precautions, can put warehouse workers at risk during their daily operations.

Injuries often occur when there are improper setups, inadequate training, or misuse of heavy equipment. That’s why it’s essential to have a safe warehouse environment for workers.

                At Industrial Shelving Systems, we offer solutions and products designed to prevent injuries and support warehouse safety. Read below to see how you can implement these efforts into your new or current setup, and make a commitment to your warehouse workers by prioritizing their safety.

                Warehouses often see accidents or injuries occur from improper setups or misuse of equipment. When inventory is improperly stored or stacked, it opens up the risk of items falling – potentially toppling on a worker or compromising the structural integrity of the heavy duty shelving and racking. Additionally, accidents can occur with heavy machinery. Heavy machinery, such as forklifts can collide into industrial pallet racking or catch a worker off guard as they round a corner in areas with poor visibility. With a lack of clearly marked signage and designated walkways, the likelihood of accidents increases.

                Below we have outlined some tips that you can implement into your facility to reduce the risk of accidents and injuries.

1. Maintain Distinct Aisles and Walkways
   1. High traffic aisles should always be clearly marked. This will ensure workers can safely navigate around the warehouse, working to also reduce collisions with equipment. Overall, marked pathways help to guide foot traffic and create safer walkways through busy areas. Heavy duty guard rails can assist in marking paths for workers, designating where workers should be walking.
      

      

2. Organize Small Parts to Avoid Clutter
   1. Organize your small parts with bolt bins and containers to keep things organized and out of the way in your workspaces. Clutter that adds up can become tripping hazards or can even prevent accessibility to other items. According to OSHA guidelines, it’s necessary to keep floors and aisles clear of clutter in order to avoid the risk of slips, trips, or falls, common workplace injuries. Bins are great for keeping your small inventory and tools organized and easy to find.
   2. Check out these storage bins that are great for organizing small parts.
      

      

3. Protect Racking with Guard Rail or Rack Protectors
   1. Your warehouse racking holds important items, whether it’s valuable inventory or essential tools, a sturdy surface is critical. However, accidents can happen. Heavy machinery, like forklifts, could hit your racking, compromising the structural integrity and leading to product damage or injury from the falling items or collapsed shelving. Installing guard rails and rack protectors is a preventative measure. These bright yellow, heavy duty safety features are designed to protect racking from hits and shields your racking from collisions. Investing in these items can prevent costly damage down the road. Check out our selection here.
      

      

4. Conduct Regular Racking Inspections
   1. It’s important to be up to date on the condition of your warehouse. By inspecting your racking regularly, you’ll be able to identify when repairs need to be made or when there is damage that needs to be addressed. During your rack inspections, it’s important to look for issues such as missing bolts, rust, and bent beams. Check out some things you should look for during these racking inspections.

While we honor June as National Safety Month, it’s important to recognize warehouse safety throughout the year. As a warehouse manager or operations manager, it’s important that your workers feel safe in their work environment. It’s necessary to assess your facility and take the steps you need to ensure that your setup is safe. These investments can be what prevents large-scale accidents from happening in the future.

Don’t know where to get started? Reach out to the team at Industrial Shelving Systems. We’ll be able to recommend places where you can implement safety features or identify areas that might need a safer setup. Reach out to us here or give us a call at 1-314-310-2446.