It’s not complicated, keeping your facility safe. Anywhere there are machinery, materials and people there are bound to be complications, but the fact is most workplace accidents can be prevented.
With that in mind- here are five things you can do right now, today, to make your facility safer for your employees, your equipment, and your machinery.
- Tighten up your pre-shift inspection procedures. Follow your forklift operators through a pre-shift inspection and ensure they are not cutting corners, eliminating steps, or glossing over items they believe are safe because they were inspected yesterday. Plenty of things can happen from shift to shift to cause damage, things that can’t be seen unless they are examined closely. Cutting corners in your pre-shift inspections is asking for trouble.
- Give your people a chance to breathe. Many workplace accidents are caused by fatigue. Breaks help your staff recover from physical labor, or extreme conditions and keep them on their toes. A rested crew is a safer crew. The time spent in a break is preferable to time missed due to some sort of mishap.
- Take a lap around your facility and make sure it is well-ventilated, that there are no slip/trip hazards. One lap a day can help eliminate preventable accidents that could be costly in a multitude of ways.
- Make sure the right tools are being used for the right jobs and that tools not intended for a job aren’t being put into use for that job. Using a screwdriver for a chisel, for example. Don’t do this.
- Improperly stacked loads are a major cause of warehouse accidents. Watch your drivers, make sure they aren’t stacking loads top-heavy, that they are obeying speed regulations and sounding safety accessories like horns, reverse alarms and flashers. If they know you are watching once, they’re more likely to think you’re watching all the time and that makes them less likely to cut corners.
Implement these five things TODAY and you are on the way to a safer work environment. Our experts can give you more best practices that ensure safety- give us a ring at (704) 842-3242 and we’ll answer any questions you might have.