Introduction
According to Iqaluit Dental Clinic, common workplace injuries in warehouses include accidents that involve heavy equipment such as forklifts, exposure to chemicals, slips, falls, trips, machine entanglement, and more. Thus, it is crucial for traffic managers in warehouses to employ the proper safety regulations and rules in order to reduce the risk of unnecessary warehouse accidents and injuries.
Tips & Tricks
Here are a few safety tips traffic managers should follow to keep a safe warehouse:
- Hazardous zones should be identified and marked clearly with signs and barriers – One of the best ways to prevent workplace accidents in warehouses is to label hazardous zones clearly. Thus, it is important to identify areas that can be considered hazardous such as areas that contain racks with heavy equipment, chemical storage areas, flammable gas storage areas, and more.
Visual warning signs, symbols, and barriers can prevent unsuspecting personnel from getting involved in accidents. These can include warning beacons, motion sensor lights, and brightly coloured reflective paints that indicate different designated paths. Additionally, it is a good idea to incorporate physical barriers such as a guard rail between the path of a forklift and the pedestrian path.
- The staff should receive proper safety training – When the staff in the area are trained properly to keep the workplace area safe and follow the proper safety protocols, it can reduce workplace accidents by a large margin.
Thus, the staff should be trained in the use of personal protective equipment, follow the best safety practices to reduce the risk of accidents, and be trained to properly use fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and more. They should also be trained on how to efficiently exit through a fire exit.
Additionally, the staff should be trained on vehicle awareness and the procedure for injury reporting. Generally, it is a recommended practice to retrain the staff annually or semi-annually to keep them up to date with the latest safety regulations and company policies.
- Potential safety hazards should be removed – It is essential to enforce strong housekeeping rules in the warehouse workplace to reduce the risk of accidents. No staff should be allowed to carelessly leave behind objects or items that are not in their proper place since they are just accidents waiting to happen.
Additionally, it is also important to assess shelving safety and vehicle safety to prevent crush injuries or malfunctioning.
- Everybody should follow the traffic layout plan – It is important to separate the vehicular and pedestrian traffic routes within the warehouse facility to minimize the risk of accidents and make the flow of traffic more efficient.
In order to designate the proper routes, traffic managers must assess the flooring layout plan of the warehouse. It will also allow them to direct the flow of traffic more effectively and prevent the occurrence of vehicular accidents in pedestrian traffic lanes.
Conclusion
Iqaluit Dental Clinic suggests you learn how to provide proper first aid in case of an emergency if you are training to become a traffic manager for a warehouse. Typically, this would include managing crush injuries, burns, fractures, cardiac arrest, bleeding, and more.
