Warehouse safety is one of the most essential requirements in many industries. But a warehouse is nothing without its workers, and worker safety is paramount and takes precedence over everything.

At Daywalk, all our products are focused towards long-term protection and proper preservation of products, items, materials, and equipment. This means that when everything is properly protected and preserved by such things as metal cages, pallets, and strapping, this also ensures the full safety of warehouse workers.

As part of our service to provide advice on warehouse safety, Daywalk offers a Warehouse Appraisal Template. This dynamic self-check list of warehouse safety requirements will prove useful for warehouse managers, superintendents, supervisors, team leads, stores people when referred on a daily or weekly basis. The template can be used in conjunction with any company-based official auditing system already in place.

Warehouse safety scenario

Let us take for an example that one needs to look around and inspect the warehouse, being the warehouse superintendent. One suddenly realises that the warehouse is really full of stuff everywhere. The aisles are full, the racks are overflowing with pallets of gear, much of them redundant. Some of the gear is merely sitting on pallets with no proper strapping, so if something is bumped, there could be a concern for safety.

Another concern, perhaps, is that the warehouse racking was installed over twenty years ago.

A short warehouse safety checklist:

Warehouse Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Do you have the correct PPE in your warehouse for the tasks required?
• If handling dangerous goods, do you have the proper PPE?
• Do you have proper storage for PPE to keep the items safe until use?

Building/Warehouse Facility

• Has the warehouse ventilation been properly inspected lately?
• Is the lighting in the warehouse meeting proper requirements?
• Is the external lighting meeting all requirements when doing night operations or providing enough security lighting?
• Are work areas clear and clean of debris or rubbish?
• Are warehouse aisles clear of obstructions?
• Are all internal and external safety signage in serviceable condition and can be readable even from a distance?
• Is electrical compliance up to date?

Racking and Storage

• Are pallets, pallet racking, and shelving not prone to loose boards?
• Are materials properly stacked and not double or triple stacked? Is anything leaning off the edges of the racking?
• Is there safety strapping of cages or timber collars to pallets?
• Do the racking frames have guard or bump rails?
• Does the racking have correct labelling or signages that is readable?
• Do the pallets have 6-inch leader-boards for safety under-rails and pallet racking compatibility?
• Are all pallets, cages, and bins compatible with the racking?
• Are all goods correctly restrained with proper strapping?
• Are there rusting or corrosion issues?

Warehouse Materials Handling

• Are all trolleys and pallet jacks fully functional and safe to use?
• Are all ladders compliant and serviced?
• Are all strapping tools serviced and in good working condition?
• Are all warehouse hand tools in working condition and with the appropriate user training carried out?

For more on warehouse safety advice and to download the warehouse safety checklist, visit the Daywalk website at https://daywalk.com/.