Can you cause a pallet rack collapse with a simple kick or push? In this video, it seems you can. But what really happened to cause such a dangerous incident? 

The kick itself, while inadvisable, should not cause a pallet rack collapse. Some conjecture on the real cause of this near-fatal incident:

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Forklift approach warning lights are an economical way to help alert people on foot to the approach of a forklift, AGV, or other industrial vehicle. In this case, we are able to show you how visible these lights can be in a setting where an order picking vehicle is traveling through a rack aisle, and where someone’s perspective might not allow them to see the approaching danger. The light is very visible, up to fifteen feet preceding the lift.

Upcoming events in the safety and OSHA compliance world include:

• American Industrial Hygiene Association Conference & Exposition: This hits May 18-23 in Montreal, Canada. Huge variance in pricing for this conference depends on your membership status and what you’d like from it. (PDF here). They’re also running a virtual conference if you can’t get to Montreal. Tons of sessions and roundtables for industrial hygiene and related topics.

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In a recent blog post, Auburn professor Dr. Kevin Gue, one of the bright minds in the country when it comes to the business of industrial distribution and plant operations, reflected on the reaction to his ProMat 2013 talk on “Designing a Worker-Centric Facility”.  Many salient points emerged:

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Take a look at your conveyor – do you think it’s safe? Are there sufficient guardrails? Are operators wearing loose clothing? Are visitors allowed near running lines? Because conveyor seems safe at a glance, it’s an often-overlooked hazard. Used correctly, of course, it is a safe way to increase productivity.

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In an industrial environment, intersections can be dangerous places, with busy, fast-moving workers, forklifts, and other traffic moving in and between aisles of racks and building columns. Whether it’s a worker walking and carrying a load, or a forklift on its way to the next pick, the chances of collisions, injuries, and damages are greater at intersections than most anywhere else. What are your options when it comes to making your intersections safer and less prone to accidents?

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36% of forklift injury accidents involve pedestrians; that’s tens of thousands of accidents a year in the U.S. alone. And we all know that when it comes to pedestrians, there is no such thing as a minor forklift accident.

We’ve recently added a free eBook focused on this topic. It covers a range of processes, equipment, and training that you can undertake to help reduce the chances of fatalities or serious injuries in your operation.

Includes information on:

• Training – not just for forklift drivers. Not just for warehouse personnel. Not just for your employees
• Speed limits – why forklifts handle like bathtubs, and why that makes speed a safety concern
• Facility clutter – the enemy of safety
• Environmental factors – why lighting, noise levels, and visual clutter can cause accidents
• Solid vs. Visual – when should you utilize physical barriers vs. floor tape to demarcate lanes
• When to automate – How to deploy automated solutions such as motion sensors, safety gates, and more
• Traffic management planning – why you should create a traffic management plan. You already have one – it may just not be the one you want
• Links to relevant information from OSHA, safety consultants, and more

Download “Shared Space is a Dangerous Place” today. (1MB PDF file opens in a new window).

OSHA has recently released a guide to safety incentives, disincentives, and reporting issues. It’s worth a quick read if you manage a manufacturing, warehousing, or industrial facility.

This document focuses on reporting/non-reporting workplace injury issues. OSHA says that “Reporting a work-related injury or illness is a core employee right, and retaliating against a worker for reporting an injury or illness is illegal discrimination under section 11(c).”  Of course, smart companies want to know if there are unsafe conditions or practices. But what if your safety rewards program is discouraging employees from reporting incidents, or even near-misses?

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Safety is always a concern for industrial operations, but visitors take the dangers to another level.

In a fast-paced distribution center, there is plenty of forklift traffic, moving conveyors, packing machines, carousels, and dock doors. Same with manufacturing; you have all kinds of production machinery, welding (human and robotic), and heavy material being handled, stacked, or processed, along with the forklifts and other handling equipment. It’s hard enough to keep your own people – the ones who should know the lay of the land – safe in these environments. But what about visitors who haven’t had the benefit of your safety training and the situational awareness that your employees develop over time?

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There isn’t much other way to say it: If you have a forklift, it is almost surely the most dangerous piece of equipment under your roof. If you have many forklifts, that danger us multiplied.

How dangerous? According to OSHA estimates, there are 61,800 minor injuries, 34,900 serious injuries and 85 forklift related deaths in the United States every year. Since there are almost 900,000 forklifts operating at any given point in the United States, this is something that every operation needs to consider when your forklifts start moving on a busy day. 11% of them stand a good chance of being in an accident or collision. Those aren’t great odds, considering that a forklift in a given warehouse is heavy, moving, and in a noisy and often visually crowded environment.

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