Many distributors are busier today than they have been in years. However, with more people and more activity, worker safety is more important today than ever before.
Because of this, here are 10 ways administrators can promote worker safety at distribution locations:
- Model the expected behavior. If workers have been instructed to perform a specific task in a certain way, administrators must do the same.
- Get workers involved in safety. All safety meetings, events, and programs should be attended by those we want most to keep safe: warehouse workers.
- Practice procedures. The best ways to teach safety procedures is to show them and then have workers practice them. Further, this is not a one-time event. Safety training should be ongoing.
- Encourage active communication. If workers see a potentially dangerous situation or task being performed, they must be encouraged to report this to administrators. Many do not, and this is when injuries happen.
- Teamwork. There is safety in numbers. When workers are taught how to perform tasks safely, they encourage each other to do so.
- Keep everything documented. All safety training and procedures should be documented. It should include the date safety training was provided to workers and those workers present for the training.
- Stay up-to-date. View safety training as a journey. It is always evolving with new ways to help prevent workplace injuries.
- Cleanliness. A clean warehouse is invariably a safer warehouse. Cleanliness has a positive impact on workers. It encourages them to perform their tasks safely.
- Avoid shortcuts. Safety training requires that tasks be performed the right way every time. It’s when workers take shortcuts that injuries can happen.
- Pride. There is a reason we see signs at construction sites indicating there have been no injuries in so many days. Placing signs like this in warehouses encourages workers to think safety and keep the momentum going.
Michael Wilson is vice president of marketing for AFFLINK LLC. www.afflink.com
