Why is a clean warehouse so important for safety?
Warehouses are spaces that can accumulate dirt incredibly quickly. They see high rates of traffic, with machinery such as forklifts regularly bringing dirt from outside, and pieces of packaging can start to block passageways in surprisingly short amounts of time.
All these forms of dirt are more than aesthetic concerns – they can be potential causes of accidents in warehouse environments. In this article, we take a closer look at why a clean warehouse is so important for safety, to help you develop an effective cleaning strategy.
Eliminate hazards
The most important reason you need to keep your warehouse clean is to try to avoid accidents. Spilt liquids and pieces of discarded packaging can be significant tripping hazards, especially in an environment that’s as fast-paced as a warehouse. If a forklift were to slip on an oil slick, it could have disastrous consequences, both in terms of injury to workers and damage to goods. Minimising potential hazards is the key goal of keeping a clean warehouse, and should inform your cleaning strategy.
Speed is key
In warehouses, it’s not enough to just clean things up at the end of the day. It only takes seconds for a liquid spill to cause someone to slip, a moment for a piece of cardboard to block the wheels on a piece of machinery. Messes need to be cleaned up as soon as they’re made, and warning signs need to be in place while this is happening. To facilitate this, have spillage signs easily accessible around the warehouse, and a system in place where employees can either clean the mess themselves or have a member of a cleaning team come to deal with it immediately.
Deep cleans
In addition to cleaning up spillages and pieces of debris, deep cleaning is essential to ensure warehouses remain safe. Dust build-ups can have negative effects on things like air quality, and eventually create slipping hazards. Make sure that dust isn’t given the chance to build up to levels like this in the first place – carry out deep cleans reasonably regularly, certainly before they’re obviously necessary. There’s no set rule on how regularly they need to be done – it will depend on the environment, and will likely change seasonally through busier and quieter periods.
Increase productivity
Not only is a dirty warehouse an unsafe warehouse, unclean environments are also generally less productive. Successful warehouses are fast-paced environments, optimised for efficiency with minimal events occurring that might cause delays. Keeping the space clean is a vital part of this process – each accident that occurs puts the whole warehouse operation on the back foot, potentially resulting in an employee temporarily or permanently unable to do their job, with products potentially being damaged as well.
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