Despite the rise of automation in large warehouses such as those owned by e-retail giant Amazon, most small to medium warehouses still rely on manual handling. It is important to protect workers from the health and safety risks associated with this task.
Any operation that involves pushing, pulling, lowering and lifting can be a hazard. It is vital that all staff operating manual handling equipment, such as sack trucks and pallet trucks, receive adequate training in their safe use.
It is useful for warehouse managers to look at various warehouse procedures and ask ‘is there a better way?’ For example, if a heavy box needs lifting from the floor by hand, ask if it would be better if the box was half emptied into another box to save workers undue strain. Always store heavy items at waist level so that workers do not have to stretch up or bend down to handle or reach them.
Every item stored in the warehouse needs to be handled with the right equipment. Sacks and small boxes are fine on a sack truck, but large or oddly shaped items will probably be better off transported using a trolley or pallet truck.
In areas where there is a lot of handling activity, or where forklift trucks operate, separate workers and visitors from handling areas by barriers and use safety signs to warn people about areas where materials are handled.
As long as basic health and safety measures are taken, manual handling can be a safe way to move items around a warehouse.
