According to statistics from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), in America warehouses are some of the most hazardous places for workers, with many accidents occurring each year and as our busy warehouses are under more pressure than ever, that’s when the potential for accidents increases.
Key risks include fire, unsafe racking, rooftop safety, electrical safety and MHE accidents. All can have serious consequences, from expensive operational disruption and stock loss, financial penalties including heavy fines and higher insurance premiums – and, in the worst case scenario, human injury or loss of life.
Recently I took part in a webinar on this subject held by UKWA member Linde, where all panel members agreed that a culture of safety is key. Ian Harbour of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners spoke of coaching leaders in the business to judge how an error had occurred and learn from incidents, rather than taking a ‘blame’ response. Linde’s Gavin Carslake made the point that safety products are not the only answer, adding that historically requests for safety solutions were unfortunately in response to an incident that had already occurred. The important thing, he said, was to take a more proactive approach.
Our Digital Risk Analysis Tool, developed for UKWA members to check compliance on Health & Safety requirements and regulations, is designed to support implementing a safety culture, making sure warehouse operators understand what they need to do to be safe and to stay safe. Our message is that all warehouse operators need to develop a culture where safety is simply standard and good safety habits are ingrained.
The law requiring drivers and front seat passengers to wear seatbelts introduced in January 1983 demonstrates how habit can breed safety. Beforehand around 40% wore seat belts. Afterwards this increased immediately to 95%. Subsequent research showed that people respond to peer pressure (when others in the car put on their belts) and enforcement – fear of being caught and punished. A review of other studies by RoSPA (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents) concluded that an increase in perceived risk of injury or accidents seems to have little direct impact on seatbelt wearing behaviour. Rather, it appears more effective to focus on forming a habit – these days when we get in our cars, we usually ‘belt up’ without thinking. Wearing a seatbelt has become a habit.
Similarly, in warehouses most people don’t behave safely because they believe they are in danger. In properly run working environments, people behave safely simply because it has become a habit. And people form good habits when everyone else is following the same processes and there is a risk of being caught and penalised if you break the rules.
Everyone ought to be safe in the workplace. That’s a fair expectation, so to win the ‘war for talent’ it is vital that we invest in safety. That’s why this year at Multimodal one of UKWA’s seminars will focus on ‘Putting the F in Warehouse Safety! (Forklifts, Fire and Falls)’. A panel of experts, chaired by compliance consultant Ruth Waring FCILT, will include Rob Cook, UK Fire Safety Manager for Tesco, Adam Smith, Commercial Director at Mentor Training and warehouse accident survivor, Lisa Ramos, who will discuss how to make the warehouse a safer place to work.
Please join us if you can – and don’t forget to visit us at the UKWA Pavilion, NEC Birmingham, 13-15 June.
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
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