12 steps to better warehouse safety

Follow these guidelines to reduce employee injuries and minimize workplace disruptions. Safety starts with you." This shopworn slogan often serves as the focal point for warehouse safety programs. Safety consultant and former OSHA manager Rick Kaletsky, however, begs to differ. "While that's a good catch phrase, I have to respectfully disagree," Kaletsky says. "Safety can't start with the employee—the employer has to set the table first. They have to establish a training program, culture, and environment where employees can work safely." Unfortunately, employers often fail to put that kind of effort into promoting safety. For some, it's a matter of insufficient time or resources. Others cut corners to save money. In the long run, though, creating a safe environment saves money by minimizing absenteeism, workplace disruptions, and equipment downtime while increasing productivity and employee satisfaction. And it doesn't necessarily mean spending a fortune. Here's a sampling of common-sense—and cost-effective—safety tips. 1. Practice "Ergonomics 101." Given the amount of manual labor that occurs in a warehouse, it's no surprise that OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has identified ergonomic injuries as one of the most common hazards for warehouse employees. "In terms of severity, ergonomic injuries are the most expensive and have the longest recovery time," says Todd Currier, health, safety, and environmental manager for Exel, the Columbus, Ohio-based third-party logistics company, and a member of the International Warehouse Logistics Association's ergonomics task force. One of the simplest steps a warehouse operator can take is to continually preach and practice the principles of safe lifting. That means workers need to keep their backs straight, keep loads close to their bodies, and not lift, pull, or push anything over their shoulders, Kaletsky advises. Nor should they turn their upper torsos without also turning their lower torsos by moving their legs and feet, he adds. 2. Never get into a "closed" truck. Serious accidents can occur after a truck has been loaded, says Ralph Cox, a principal with Charlotte, N.C.-based Tompkins Associates. "That interval of time between when the warehouse has control of the truck for loading and when the driver has control of the truck for departure can be really dangerous," he says. Cox knows of deaths that have occurred because a warehouse employee stepped into the back of a truck after it had been loaded and the driver had left for the dock office. When the driver, unaware that anyone was inside, returned to the vehicle and pulled away, the employee was thrown out of the vehicle. Two ways to prevent this kind of tragedy: Place a chain or sign across the dock door indicating that the truck is "closed." Or take the driver's keys and return them only after he has picked up the shipping paperwork. 3. Mark your territory. "Striping," or using paint or tape to mark out spaces to be used for different activities, can help prevent dock injuries. "My perception is that you can't do too much floor striping," Cox says. "It brings order and structure to the dock operation." Outlining work areas means everyone will know exactly where to perform certain activities. "The operation works the same way every day," Cox says. "You don't want to have your dock being used like a big work table where people just work wherever they can find space." 4. Make training mandatory. Any good safety program is based on effective education. That's why Exel requires new associates to undergo three to five days of training before they hit the warehouse floor. After that, they are assigned to mentors who show them the proper way to perform activities. Training isn't just for new hires; it should continue throughout employment. And don't let employees talk their way out of training requirements, Kaletsky says. "Please don't let someone max out of training because they have or are alleged to have experience or knowledge with something. You want them to go to the training so that at least you know that they are not [continuing] bad habits." How to make training interesting for people who think they've heard it all before? Joe Kelbus, principal consultant for the National Safety Council in Itasca, Ill., suggests that safety training be hands-on, visual, and "facilitated." "With a facilitated lesson, you spend half your time listening to a lecture and half your time in small groups talking, responding, and working hands-on," he explains. He also recommends administering pre- and post-training tests to ensure that a program was effective. 5. Educate everyone. It goes without saying that forklift operators must be trained. More effective is to train them on the same make and model as the truck they will be operating, says Kaletsky. But drivers aren't the only ones who need education. "You also want to train the people working around them," suggests Kelbus. Sometimes, though, it's not enough to simply make order-pickers and other pedestrians aware of how to work around lift trucks. To minimize the chance of accidents, keep them separated. In cases where the same aisle is used for both picking and replenishment, Cox recommends, schedule the two activities for different times of the day. Don't neglect to educate upper management about safety. Kelbus points out that many executives have never studied occupational safety and health. Safety, therefore, might not sit at the top of their list of priorities. The way to get it up there, says Currier, is to show management how safety will help achieve business objectives. "Find out what's the reality of their work and what they're measured on—and it's not always cost," Currier recommends. "And then state your position in a language that your leadership understands." 6. Walk the talk. Approximately half of the unsafe acts that Currier has observed have involved workers who were not following existing policies, standards, or procedures. When that happens, it's time to follow up training and communication with action. Kaletsky recommends applying a progressive disciplinary program if an employee doesn't follow the safety rules. "Once employees understand safety practices, they need to know that compliance is a condition for employment," he says. "This should in no way be merely an authoritarian effort. But you need to make it clear that if you do not wear your eye protection, if you're ripping electrical cords out of the receptacle instead of unplugging them by the plug, if you're driving a forklift too fast through cross aisles and not blowing your horn, you're going to feel it. You're going to feel it, for instance, by a day off." 7. Make safety a success measure. Another way to emphasize a commitment to safety is to measure it. At Exel, safety is considered to be a key performance indicator. "If there is [a safety-related] event during the day, then it was an unsuccessful day regardless of whether the truck went out on time," says Currier. Exel also has made safety a part of employees' performance reviews. "All of management is measured on our safety objective, and this goes all the way down to the lead operator of the crew," Currier explains. 8. Empower your employees. Encouraging employees to report unsafe working conditions and actions goes hand-in-hand with enforcing and measuring safety compliance. Exel, for example, has empowered associates to stop an activity if they feel it is unsafe. "We've had associates turn off production lines or call me in the middle of night because they have been asked to do something that requires three people and they only have two available," Currier says. "In those cases, we work with the supervisor so that we are still able to service the client while maintaining our associates' ability to operate efficiently and safely." Cox recommends setting up an anonymous reporting system for employees. In addition, Kaletsky suggests, question workers who are working in or around an unsafe condition. If employees are working around an oil spill on the floor, for example, ask them why they didn't report it (and make sure to remove the hazard). 9. Pay attention to near misses. Kaletsky recommends paying attention not just to accidents that cause injuries or illnesses but also to the "near misses." That will help identify safety trends or property damage that could lead to injury in the future. Currier maintains that tracking only OSHA "recordables" or lost-time injuries won't provide a complete picture of workplace accidents. For example, he estimates that 7–10 percent of all injuries involve the eye, yet most of them are not severe and don't result in lost time or an OSHA report. 10. Exercise constant vigilance. Experts recommend conducting weekly or monthly safety inspections of the facility and of how employees are doing their jobs. Kaletsky takes this one step further. "You need to be continually monitoring what is going on in your facility," he suggests. "This doesn't have to be a formal system with columns, boxes, and guys' names. This is just keeping an eye on what is happening on the floor." His response to managers who say they don't have time to do that: "Well, you have time to stop and watch how some guy's lifting. You have time to make sure that access to exits and fire extinguishers is not blocked. It doesn't take that much time." 11. Bring in a fresh pair of eyes. When it comes time to conduct a formal safety audit, it can be very helpful to bring in an outsider, Cox suggests. "And I don't necessarily mean a consultant," he says. "It could be someone from another facility in your business. It could also be a peer from a DC just down the street who runs an operation that's similar to yours." That "fresh pair of eyes" may notice an existing or potential problem that hasn't caught the attention of someone who sees it every day. That can benefit every facility, so managers can agree to reciprocate: "We'll look at yours, if you'll look at ours." 12. Don't just look for fault, look for cause. If an accident does occur, don't focus entirely on assigning fault. Instead, try to identify the cause. Kaletsky offers this example: Suppose a worker slips on a puddle of fluid. Rather than just say the injury was due to carelessness, find out why the fluid was there. "You need to ask, 'Where did that fluid come from?'" he says. "Did it drip from the roof? If so, then just cleaning it up won't be good enough—it will come back again. Did it leak from a forklift? Well, now you not only have that spot on the floor, but you also have one in aisle 7." Finally, Kaletsky cautions against punishing an employee for getting hurt or sick on the job, without investigating further. "You do want to discipline someone if they broke a safety rule or do something blatantly unsafe, even if no one is injured," he says. "But if someone has four lost-time injuries, don't just discipline him for being accident-prone, find out what caused those accidents." Profound consequences Although creating a comprehensive safety program may take a significant amount of time and effort, the consequences of not creating a culture of safety in the warehouse can be profound—even more so than a missed shipment or a lost customer. "When a major injury occurs, there are all kinds of repercussions," Cox observes. "There is what I can only call an 'emotional violence' that pervades the entire community. It goes through the company, the town, and, of course, the families. And it doesn't go away real quick."

By Susan Lacefield, Associate Editor Logistics Management May 1, 2004 © 2005, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.