Warehouse operations are common with most manufacturing businesses, and present a wide variety of potential hazards for your employees and vendors. Generally, very little training is conducted to recognize these potential hazards. When we review our warehouse losses, we find the most frequent injuries and losses occur in the loading dock area, during forklift operations, and employee lifting and material handling.
Loading docks or staging areas are common areas in a warehouse where injuries and damage to products occur. Common hazards include:
• Product falling onto employees’ head, feet, arms, and legs;
• Weak housekeeping programs that result in congestion;
• Employees jumping from a high elevation to a lower elevation;
• Lifting dock plates and constantly adjusting them; and
• Forklift or pallet jacks rolling off the dock.
Controls include:
• Securing dock plates so they don’t roll over;
• Conducting daily inspections of loads and temporary storage arrangements;
• Never allowing a forklift or pallet jack to back to the edge of the dock;
• Enforcing safety rules about employee movement from higher dock elevations to the lower ground surface; and
• Monitoring assigned safety inspection forms
The practice of recognizing hazards in warehouse operations is often overlooked until a serious injury or fatality occurs. By focusing your efforts on recognizing those hazards on loading docks, and during forklift operation and material handling, your warehouse will be more productive and employees will avoid serious injuries.
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How Safe is Your Warehouse?
