Your material handling workers may have already returned to their normal duties despite the ongoing pandemic. Or, perhaps they have continued their essential functions throughout the past few months onsite, likely with extra safety measures in place. Regardless, it’s important to do everything in your power to maintain their safety and productivity, no matter what’s going on in the world. Let’s discuss some important steps you can take.
Stay up-to-date with new or temporary safety precautions
One of the most important things you can do as a safety leader in your facility is to stay up-to-date with new or temporary safety precautions. For example, here are some official temporary precautions (six months) in place in Virginia:
- Social distancing measures and face coverings for employees in customer-facing positions and when social distancing is not possible
- Frequent access to hand washing stations and/or hand sanitizer
- Cleaning of high-contact surfaces
- Daily temperature checks and health screening questions before employees enter the building
- Prohibiting employees known or suspected to have COVID-19 from returning to work for 10 days or until they have two consecutive negative tests. (Note: Be sure to follow the guidelines of your local health department which may be different from this.)
Looking for other ideas? PPE requirements, described below, may be old news for your facility, but it’s never a bad idea to brush up on current requirements. You may also want to look into staggering schedules.
Stagger schedules and stay distanced
A big part of slowing the spread of COVID is to limit the gatherings of groups. If you already have a small operation, you may not have to worry about scheduling too many employees at once. Some facilities, however, have found staggering schedules so that staff who would normally we working in the same areas or with the same equipment are able to stay separated. Facilities can also use extra space to their advantage. Consider adapting your work areas, when possible, to allow your material handling workers to spread out when staggering schedules is not an option.
Keep PPE and other resources available
PPE may already be a required part of your facility’s day-to-day. However, the importance of cloth face coverings has also been crucial in halting the spread of COVID. Less spread means the maintenance of productivity and the safety of both yourself and your employees. Check out the CDC’s full page of resources for manufacturing workers and employees.
You may also be interested in 5 Ways to Keep Your Distribution Center Safe During a Pandemic >>
Equip your facility with additional safety solutions
As detailed in the CDC resource above, and, as we discussed, you may have to adapt or modify your facility to better suit your material handling workers’ needs. What are some easy ways to up the safety of your facility from both a production and productivity standpoint? Affordable, easy-to-install pallet rack safety solutions.
In fact, the same products that can define your new work areas can be repurposed to prevent pallet push-through and add additional safety to pallet racking and bays. To find the best rack safety solution for your facility, refer to the following as a guide. Of course, our team at Adrian’s and our network of dealers are always happy to help answer any questions.
- Do you have loose, small items in your racks? Consider our Modular Pallet Rack Safety Netting that can be overlapped to cover multiple bays, right out of the box.
- Or, are your items shrink-wrapped and palletized? Consider our Fixed Rack Safety Net or Rack Safety Strap. Rack safety straps can create cordoned-off areas to clearly define socially distanced work areas.
- Do you operate a fulfillment center with pick-and-pack operations? Consider our Sliding Rack Safety Net. This cuts down on the time your employees need to spend at the racks searching and retrieving products.
- Are you concerned about improper forklift operation? Consider the Rack Safety Strap – we recommend two to three per bay.
If you’re excited to try out any of the above products, request a free sample of our Rack Safety Strap. We’ll gladly ship it out to you as early as the same day so you can get back to work!
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