Time and time again, we hear about businesses that misplace billions of dollars worth of valuable products. The losses occur throughout every distribution channel: from the warehouses to the trucks to the delivery trucks to the individual delivery drivers and finally to those unfortunate customers who receive the products.
Running a distribution center for healthcare products is no easy task. Not only do you have your healthcare products to worry about, but you also need to make sure the staff is protected from potential accidents. That is why it’s important to make sure your distribution center is as safe and accident-free as possible.
Begin With an Initial Site Assessment
When it’s time to find the right location for a distribution center, there are many factors to consider. Firstly, your distribution center needs to have room for storage, and it needs to have enough space for product loading and unloading. You also need to make sure it is easily accessible for employees. Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a few potential sites, it’s time to conduct a site assessment.
Perform an initial site assessment
Performing an initial site assessment is the first step toward preparing a distribution center (DC) for distribution center safety. The assessment process includes reviewing a DC’s processes, identifying potential hazards, and identifying and correcting them before people get hurt.
Identify risk areas
Warehouses, distribution facilities, and any other facility handling goods on a large scale often have large areas set aside for employee parking. These areas are also often used as loading areas for incoming shipments. Both areas pose the same potential threat in that they may attract the attention of pedestrians not familiar with the facility or where workers may be distracted. If no one is present in the area, the risk is very low. However, if a worker is unloading a shipment, taking a phone call, or tending to personal business in the area, then pedestrian traffic in the area should be monitored.
Conduct risk assessment
Running a distribution center presents many challenges. One of the biggest is ensuring the safety of your employees. Conduct a risk assessment to gather data and identify potential hazards. Consider several critical aspects. Use these tips to get started.
Identify solutions
Distribution center managers are continually looking for ways to make their facilities safer. Safety is paramount in warehousing and distribution, and ensuring safe working conditions for employees and the environment is critical to maintaining a healthy business.
Implement safety procedures
Creating a safe and productive environment in your distribution center is difficult, but there are ways to make it safer for employees. Implement safety procedures, such as lockout-tagout, to ensure hazardous equipment stays off during maintenance. Invest in proper equipment, like safety belts, to ensure employees do not fall off moving equipment. Your team should be fully trained in all equipment they use daily.
Measure results
Safety in the workplace is a top priority for distribution centers, so it’s worth taking the time to measure the results of your efforts. You can track safety metrics across your distribution center, so you can determine where improvements and adjustments need to be made. Several of the metrics that you’ll want to track include injuries, lost time accidents, and near misses.
Keep Distribution Centers Safe with These Strategies
When warehouse workers handle the products that are a significant part of your company’s revenue, safety is critical. That’s why it’s important for warehouse managers to use safety assessments to measure the safety of their operations. Distribution centers are big businesses. The number of products shipped through distribution centers increases each year, so the area can be prone to many accidents.
So it’s vital that many strategies and methods are in place to ensure the safety of all.
