Be compliant in 2020
How to be Compliance and Safety-ready in 2020
Providing a safe workplace isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good for business. Unsafe workplaces reduce efficiency, and injuries slow down the supply chain. Throughout the year, your warehouse installations suffer operational wear and tear and accidental damage. And this may render your systems non-compliant and unsafe.
Get a FREE Health Check
The approaching New Year means it’s an ideal time to get your racking and shelving checked for compliance so you’re all good to go for 2020. With that in mind, we encourage you to book an Auckland Racking and Shelving Health check. The good news is, this valuable service is FREE.
We’ll do the work for you
Regular inspections of racking and shelving are necessary for safety, and to check for missing bolts, bent supports, warped shelving or damage from forklifts. If damage has occurred, it should be repaired immediately by a qualified contractor.
However, inspecting for damage or repairing damage can often end up in the “I’ll do it later” basket. But if you call Auckland Racking in, we’ll take that problem off your hands and give you the piece-of-mind that comes with knowing you’re compliant.
Improving warehouse safety
Of the three risks of non-compliance, risk to human life is the most important (the other two are risk of product and asset loss and risk of disruption to business). The New Year is also a good time to review your warehouse safety programmes. The reality is, despite advancements in technology, modern warehouses still need people. In fact, the number of warehouse workers is greater than ever… and increasing. Unfortunately, so are the number of injuries.
Another consideration is that, as the demand for products increases, so does the need for speed. If a company doesn’t already have a culture of safety, the pressure to move goods through the warehouse faster and faster will only increase injury rates, slowing down supply chains and increasing labour costs. Plus, the impact of injuries and fatalities is clearly devastating for the workers and their families.
How to establish a culture of safety
A culture of safety means implementing and maintaining a comprehensive safety programme. While safety needs vary from company to company, here are some proven steps to help you develop and support a robust safety programme:
Analyse Hazards
Ensuring safety and compliance starts here. A detailed hazard analysis is the cornerstone on which any effective safety programme is built. Don’t cheat or cut corners. It should be conducted honestly and thoroughly. To implement a safety programme without first completing a thorough site hazard analysis is a waste of your time. And it will come back to haunt you later.
Walk the Talk
Who is responsible for safety? The answer is, everyone! A successful safety programme requires ‘ownership’ from every individual within your organisation, no matter their position. Everyone must be personally committed to, and accountable for, safety. Anyone who ignores this – management included – is part of the problem.
Monitor Behaviour
Use behaviour-based safety observations. If you see at-risk behaviours, address them before the risky behaviour leads to an accident or injury. This isn’t about telling on your workmates. It’s about helping keep them safe.
Health and Safety Committees
Ensure open and proactive communication regarding health and safety matters by supporting functional a Health and Safety Committee (HSC). According to Worksafe, HSCs “bring together workers and management in the development and review of health and safety policies and procedures for the workplace. HSCs enable a business and its worker representatives to meet regularly and work cooperatively to improve work health and safety”.
The main functions of an HSC are to:
Make it easy for the business and workers to cooperate on ways to ensure workers’ health and safety at work
Assist in developing standards, rules, and policies or procedures for work health and safety
Make recommendations relating to work health and safety
Carry out other tasks that are agreed between the business and the committee
These steps are just a starting point. An effective safety programme is one that considers all the factors unique to your organisation. It’s also important to note that a programme is effective only if it is regularly updated and continually promoted to all staff.
Book a FREE health check for 2020 Now!
So what are you waiting for? Start by making sure your installations are compliant in 2020 with our FREE Health Check. We’ll ensure your systems are up to today’s codes, which will help protect your business, keep your staff safer and give you peace-of-mind. Book your free health check now.