Warehouse Health and Safety Risks

Human security is the main condition of modern working process, arrangement, and improvement of the workplace. Safety greatly influences the productivity of labor and welfare of workers as well as employers. All provisions and work standards are fixed in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and other relevant legislations. A warehouse is a working space, the area of increased risks associated with the storage and transportation of all kinds of goods, the use of complicated mechanisms and specialized equipment. So, it is naturally important for every responsible employee to learn safety risks, know and follow rules and instructions for saving not only health but life as well in such workplaces as warehouse. Moreover, employers should find the most effective ways of minimalizing factors of risk and danger.

According to one of the most resumptive classifications of risks, they are associated with layout, floors, heating, noise, housekeeping, and fire (Emmett, 2005). This essay suggests to research every proposed type and to find the way of minimalizing every kind of danger.

Layout. Safety of warehouse depends on its design. Poorly thought-out structure and layout of the building can be prone to the weather conditions’ ravages or cause too rapid spread of fire during an accident. Weak construction of the roof or walls leads to the collapse and ruining. The results of unreasoned location of racks are the following: improper redistributed weight of goods, risk of employees to be struck, and sufferings because of serious injury by a falling object.

Mitigation of risks. The building can be chosen and bought or specially designed and created. It should suit to the requirements to the warehouse: to be rainproof and windtight, reasonably combine demands of the construction base and decorative additions (Warehouse safety guide, 2008). Windows and roof lights should be in excellent, non-damaged condition. The warehouse is recommended to be insulated for avoiding inconveniences with condensation, saving from birds and vermin activity, for preventing food or other vulnerable goods from becoming unfit or rotten.

Floors. Floors are the main source of falls, slips, trips, and other hazards. A working staff may suffer because of the fall over debris, or slide over spills, getting such painful and expensive in curing results as bruises, contusion, or fractures. When the floor is contaminated or wet, slips can happen. Rough handling with water, dry powders, oil, foodstuff, cleaning products, as well as stretch wrapping, plastic bags and label backing makes the floor dirty and slippery.

Mitigation of risks. We can hardy exaggerate the importance of clean and good cared floors. For preventing accidents, the working stuff should be provided with nonslip footwear, daily remove fresh debris, and use suitable absorber for cleaning the floor and making available for liquid spills. It is important to add extra bins for waste material near working machines on loading bays.

Heating. Everything connected with fire and electricity increases the risk of an accident, goods’ damage and health injure. The place and way of providing heating installation should be priory approved by insurers and local Fire Authority. The owner of the warehouse should remember that insurers never insure buildings if portable heating appliances, such as paraffin or bar heaters, LPGs, are on the premises.

Mitigation of risks. Fuel pipes, tanks, and heating units should be operable and safe.  The whole system must be protected and securely located in the proper place. It should be professionally supported and repaired in time. The system of ventilation should be also designed and installed; the building of the warehouse is ought to be constructed in some form of insulation.

Noise. The main sources of noise are: 1) unceasing working process of refrigerators, elevators, and all kinds of mechanisms during loading and unloading operations; 2) unexpected, extremely loud and painful noises as sounds of falling objects. The harmful influence of noise causes possible headaches, hearing impairment, and overexertion of the vocal cords connected with the necessity of loud talking in circumstances of hindered communication between employees. Permanent or disabling hearing loss is the most vexed but not the only problem. Workers can be disturbed by everyday stress and suffer from lack of sleep because of tinnitus (whistling, ringing, humming and buzzing).

Mitigation of risks. The collective protection measures are divided into remedies that reduce noise of the source of its origin, and means of reducing noise in its spreading around workplace. For warehouse employees, first of all, it is an individual protection, such as helmets, headphones, earplugs, masks, and special antivibration costumes, which must be provided by employers. The building of warehouse should include soundproof cabins and rooms for rest. The walls should be covered with sound-absorbing materials, and the most loud equipment should be placed in special sector of building.

Fire. The consequences of fire are very clear. It is very easy to become trapped for working staff and visitors, who can suffer from burns or smoke inhalation, which could lead to death in a closed space of warehouse. It is a territory, where both fixed fire suppression systems and manual fire fighting forces should be combined in dealing with a fire. The fire can develop rapidly and with great intensity in the modern warehouse because of the complex arrangement of racks and shelving, complicated layout, and a great number of goods.

Mitigation of risks. The properly designed and prevalent automatic sprinkler fire control system is the best method of fire control (Gluckman, & Stavish, 2011). If it is not provided, other methods will be less or totally ineffective. For preventing of fire the working stuff should learn and follow the rules of fire safety, avoid smoking inside the building, regularly check the condition of wiring system, and be attentive to the slightest signs of fire starting.

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