Guidance On Handling Goods In An Industrial Setting

No matter your business line, an industrial or warehouse setting will come with the need to move goods and follow safe procedures for goods handling. How you move goods about is critical to reducing accidents and keeping your workforce and business visitors safe.

What risks are there when handling goods in an industrial setting?

• Working or moving goods at height
• Falls, slips and trips
• Lifting injuries
• Being injured or crushed by machinery or moving and falling objects
• Overreaching machinery to load or unload at high levels

Risk assessments

As a warehouse owner or manager, you have a legal duty to manage risks and conduct a workplace assessment to protect employees and site visitors from harm. As a responsible employer, as part of this you must consider how goods are moved, lifted and handled. It may be appropriate to reassess the equipment you use to reduce the number of people, vehicles and manual handling of goods without affecting productivity or raising risk levels— a significant cause of accidents and death within warehouse and commercial settings involve moving goods.

Manual handling injuries are a major cause of missed work days and long-term absences, which adversely affect productivity, raise sick pay costs and leave you at risk of potential liable cases if it is deemed the result of negligence or unsafe practices.

It is possible to reduce the health and safety risks of handling goods in an industrial setting using appropriate lifting and handling aids. You should also provide adequate training to ensure employees understand how to use equipment and practise safe manual handling.

Guidance for safe moving and handling

• Planning to consider additional lifting aids.
• Managing workflows to reduce the distance of lifts.
• Adequate training for manual and machine lifting procedures.
• Reducing the need for manual lifting where possible.

This can be tricky in a busy warehouse setting, where there is pressure to maximise storage and productivity. Yet more people and forklifts can be a recipe for disaster, especially when you factor in the need to move goods to and from mezzanines or high racking and shelving. Ladders are inherently risky and impractical for moving bulky and heavy items, and traditional lifts are difficult to place and use close to relevant areas. Conveyor belts and stairs have a large footprint which extensively reduces the working and storage areas available. A goods lift will likely be a purchase that will save you time and money as a cost-effective and reliable solution that will benefit your employees and business.

Goods lifts

One of the safest ways to protect your workforce and goods is to use a dedicated goods lift to raise and lower products and equipment between levels in a warehouse or storage facility. A mezzanine goods lift such as those developed, manufactured and installed by loading and lifting solutions company Mezzanine Floor Lifts are ideal for reducing manual handling required to move goods securely between floors or up to a mezzanine floor. Goods lifts can be installed using a simple plug-and-play modular design in as little as one day, so there is little disruption to work around.

Lifts can offer bespoke capacity with safe working loads of up to 1.5 tonnes. Goods can be loaded simply by a single user with a pallet truck or roll cages. This instantly reduces the number of people involved in manual handling and/or the forklift activity required to transport goods safely. Lifts can be installed quickly and economically without civil works or pit excavations, providing a safe and reliable way to raise and lower machinery and products to mezzanines and higher floors. The goods can be loaded, secured and moved by one individual. Customised goods lifts have a compact footprint, and installation can be inside or outside the building, so space and access needn’t be an issue.