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Safety isn’t just a business concern. It’s a moral one as well. You hold the health and livelihoods of your workers in your hands. Their lives might literally depend on knowing the proper safety procedures around your warehouse.  

As such, you should view safety as a partnership. You might think of the topic in terms of insurance rates or legal fees. Or maybe in terms of productivity and turnover.  

But your workers are putting their lives at risk to help you earn a profit. Both of you have a responsibility to make the process as safe as possible. As such, involve them in the safety process as much as you can. Teach them how to stay healthy and productive. 

Here are five ways you can save a life by teaching your warehouse employees about the best safety protocols: 

Adequate Training 

It may seem like every warehouse operates in a similar fashion. If you bring in an employee with a large amount of experience, you might assume they know all the proper safety precautions that go with working in your facility. However, this might not be the case.  

Every warehouse is not created equal. You might have hazards that even veteran workers have not seen before. Meanwhile, you don’t want to trust previous employers to do your training for you.  

Put every new hire through a complete safety training. It will give you confidence that everyone knows what they are doing from the start. 

Necessary Certifications 

Require any worker performing a specialized task to obtain the proper certification.  

This seems obvious, but at certain points, you might be tempted to look the other way. For instance, if your regular forklift operator is out, you might let another uncertified employee step in. However, this can lead to serious problems.  

Better to make sure that you have enough backups for each specialized task. If you find yourself without a deep enough bench, provide resources for some of your more reliable workers to get the proper certifications. 

Ongoing Safety Reminders 

Even experienced workers can use a refresher. As such, make safety training an ongoing process. Provide regular presentations about key safety issues, making sure that everyone is on the same page at all times.  

Meanwhile, these discussions will let you update procedures as necessary. New technology and evolving policies might require a change to your safety protocols. Ongoing safety training lets you introduce these as part of the regular course of business. 

Floor Traffic 

You can make your employees safer just by designing your warehouse floor space with them in mind.  

Forklifts, docking mechanisms, moving equipment, and other potential hazards are scattered throughout your facility, many of them requiring constant movement around the plant. Sometimes, it resembles a grid of city streets at rush hour. As with those traffic situations, people feel safer when everyone knows and follows the rules of the road.  

As such, set up clear procedures and make sure your staff follows them. Keep people away from moving equipment (and other hazards) as much as possible, and provide clearly marked walkways where people can travel without worry. 

Proper Signage 

You can save a lot of serious accidents by labeling hazards properly. It allows workers to avoid dangerous situations.  

Meanwhile, they act as reminders as to the proper procedures when workers need to work with potentially harmful materials, like hazardous chemicals. It also increases safety around other high-concern areas, like charging stations and energized equipment. 

Maximizing safety requires everyone knowing and following the rules. That becomes easier when you have the right workers. Teaming with a strong staffing partner, like PrideStaff, ensures that you have the kind of competent, reliable workers who can prioritize safety without losing any of their productivity. 

Contact PrideStaff today to find out more. 

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