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There are many things to consider when planning your warehouse layout. You’ll probably be thinking of things like order picking, loading, and unloading areas. Don’t forget to think about safety though. We’re here to take you through six considerations you should be aware of when thinking about best practices around your warehouse.

NOT ENOUGH SPACE One failure within a warehouse can be not dedicating a sufficient amount of floor space for each task, or having a specific zone for each component of your storage system. While one major issue is the fact that this can slow down efficiency, traffic flow, and warehouse operations, it can also create safety issues. If you have workers and inventory unnecessarily passing through various areas of your warehouse, you are increasing the risk of an accident occurring.

How to avoid it: Plan your warehouse space. Ensure you’ve considered utilising all of your warehouse storage space. You don’t need to have a build-up of stock levels/inventory on the ground, you can install a pallet racking system that can utilise all the space within your warehouse. This can not only improve the amount of space and storage area, but it can also improve other aspects of your business, such as order picking, the flow of goods, and the order fulfillment process.

FALLING OBJECTS Although we’re all about utilising unused space between the floor and the ceiling of your warehouse, this can also create a harmful risk if not used correctly. It’s important to always store items at a height correctly (and at any height for that matter).

How to avoid it: The first step would be to consider getting professional assistance. Consider undertaking a warehouse safety audit, which will not only assist you in assessing the risk of falling objects, it will also assist you in your overall warehouse safety. There are more things that can lead to the potential of falling objects, such as clutter, uneven floors, unwrapped pallets or lack of knowledge, but let’s find out more about that shortly.

LACK OF EDUCATION It might sound obvious, but one key ingredient to ensuring the safety of individuals and those around them is providing training. When we say training, we don’t just mean providing new employees with one day of training when they commence working in your warehouse, we’re talking about ongoing training. This should include refreshers for all staff, no matter how long or short they’ve been at your company. The training should extend out to every aspect of the warehouse operations, (e.g. how to stack items correctly to reduce falling objects).

How to avoid it: Have a regular training schedule. In many warehouses, most things will stay the same, so organisations may become complacent when it comes to training, that is why you should prepare a company-wide calendar for regular training and refresher sessions. Many employees will feel as though they don’t need it, as they’ll assume that they’re experienced enough already. That’s why you will need to make these sessions worthwhile and engaging for them.

Do research to provide examples and anecdotes of why it’s integral to have regular refreshers - explain how incidents can happen to even the most experienced workers. These sessions should be conducted at least once a year. Whether you conduct it internally or externally depends on your business. The sessions could include video training, expert speakers, re-assessing your own warehouse layout and procedures. Don’t just make it a one-way conversation, ensure that your staff are involved and having input.

UNTIDINESS AND CLUTTER What did our mothers use to say when we were kids? Put things away when you’re done with them! That is no different within a warehouse – and much more important. Whether it’s tools, inventory, rubbish, or stock – always make sure you put it back once done with it. Not only so everyone knows where items are when they want them, but also so everyone knows where the items aren’t going to be when they don’t want them. It might sound obvious to say, but if an item is left in a passage or pathway, you could get an unsuspecting forklift driver running into/over it and in turn, creating a situation where racking is damaged, which leads to items or the racking falling, just as one example - the obvious things are often the most missed. Or you may not realise that your item is blocking or positioned near a safety exit, which could spell disaster if there needs to be a quick exit.

How to avoid it: The main tip here is to be diligent - really instil it in all employees’ minds that they have to put items away when they’re done with them. Run a 5S lean system with rewards for tidy areas and ongoing improvements. Help to make this easier by ensuring they know exactly where each item goes, and if they’re unsure, teach them – this links back to undertaking regular training and warehouse assessment’s. One extra tip to help make your warehouse even tidier – have designated paths for walking and forklift/pallet jacks/lift trucks, etc. Ensure everyone knows these areas must be left neat and tidy, so as to always allow for suitable aisle width.

EXPOSURE TO HARMFUL SUBSTANCES

There are typically plenty of hazardous materials within a warehouse. Whether it’s flammable materials or types of gases, they need to be stored correctly. You should never leave a harmful material sitting out on a workbench or warehouse floor. Even the way they are stored should be treated differently from most other items within the warehouse.

How to avoid it: Using the right storage equipment is essential when it comes to materials handling. Our range of dangerous good storage can assist in storing flammable liquids, aerosols, forklift gases, oxidizing agents, toxic and corrosive materials correctly.

MISMANAGEMENT OF PALLETS This also comes back to untidiness, but on a slightly larger scale. How often have you walked into a warehouse and seen a pile of unused pallets? Let’s assume at least once or twice. Did you know that this can become a safety hazard in multiple ways? If stacked too high without any support, they pose the risk of potentially falling if disturbed, (again, avoiding having a forklift collide with them is a key here). While if there is a smaller pile, they could then become a tripping hazard.

How to avoid it: First and foremost, you need to keep track of the number of pallets coming into, and leaving your warehouse. Treat them like any other piece of stock that requires an inventory management system and figure out how they can be stored correctly. Create a designated space that unused pallets can go, somewhere that is safe and out of the way. Also, here’s a bonus tip, you can actually sell your pallets! Don’t just leave them around to rot if they’re never going to be used again, get them out there so that they can be repurposed.

CONCLUSION Lots of these points may sound like common sense, which they are. However, although they may sound straightforward to you, you need to ensure everyone within your organisation is on the same page. Always be sure to keep health and safety on your warehouse floor, and within your wider workplace, at the forefront of your mind.

NEED ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION? GET IN TOUCH WITH THE EXPERTS AT BOWEN STORAGE.

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