Industry has invested millions of dollars over the past few years purchasing new warehouses. We are in an era where large warehouses seem to be more popular (3–400,000 square feet). Tons of product are moved through warehouse operations each day and as a result, many injuries take place. These injuries could be the result of:
Manual handling or product;
Being struck by powered equipment;
Falling from elevations or slip/fall incidents;
Being splashed by chemicals;
Lack of enforcement of PPE, thus a resulting injury;
Being injured by machinery.
There are many things that can be done to make the warehouse safer. Docks, as an example, contribute between 10–25 percent of all injuries. More training can take place. Safeguards canbe installed along with improved safety programming.
An important issue in any warehouse is that of emergency preparedness. The following items should be in place for every emergency program; these programs should be developed to address issues such as:
Weather emergencies;
Fire safety and fire prevention;
Chemical handling and incident control;
Medical care.
Each emergency plan should be developed to include: employee training, emergency evacuation maps, spill clean-up kits, sprinkler testing, fire and emergency equipment inspections, eye and body showers for chemical emergencies, emergency drills, medical care products and stations, contractor/visitor control during an emergency and emergency alarm systems.
There may be machines or operations that require guarding or employee safeguarding. Common exposures and safeguards in warehouses and distribution centers should include:
Guards on conveyor sprockets, gears and rollers. Allpinch points should be protected in such a way to keep hands and other parts of the body from being injured;
Netting or mesh placed under overhead conveyors and on the sides of upright racking will keep small parts and product from falling to lower levels;
Skylights should have perimeter guards or reinforced metal placed around or over the opening to prevent a fall-to-below injury. Each year contractors or employees fall to their deaths through skylights;
Fixed guards are required on portable air compressors, open sprockets and pulleys and dangerous protrusions that someone could walk into or drive into. Also add the appropriate guarding to roof fans and floor fans;
Heavy duty posts, rails and barriers not only provide protection to the building from powered equipment damage but also are lifesavers in protecting pedestrians, including visitors. Thesebarriers should be placed along busy walkways, near offices, dock doors, break areas and vending machines.
