Tommie Jones is a safety consultant and an OSHA-authorized outreach instructor and subject-matter expert for the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District’s OSHA Training Center, located in Dublin, CA. He was the safety and occupational health manager for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin located in Tracy, CA. He has developed and taught safety and health

34 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JUNE 2010 www.asse.org
Establishing safety as a high priority is critical in warehouses and storage facilities. These facilities are not only central components of
business supply chains but also the source of hundreds of fatalities and thousands of injuries in the
U.S. every year. In fact, the fatal injury rate for the
warehousing industry is higher than the national
average for all industries.
OSHA recently reported four warehouse-related
fatalities in 1 month, including a worker in New
York who was struck and killed by a powered
industrial truck that was loading paper bales into a
semitrailer; an Iowa employee who collapsed and
died from exposure to sodium hydroxide after
attempting to repair a leaking pipe; an Oregon man
who died after being caught between the back of a
semitrailer and a loading dock; and an Illinois
worker who, while repairing a hydraulic flatbed
truck, was crushed beneath the raised flatbed and
frame when the hydraulics failed.
Warehousing and storage facilities rank high on
OSHA’s target list for inspections because of the
wide variety of potential hazards associated with
warehouse operations. Between October 2008 and
September 2009, OSHA issued 626 citations and
imposed almost $400,000 in penalties in the general
warehousing and storage category. Employee complaints drove the majority of inspections, with forklifts, carbon monoxide (CO), general housekeeping
and lack of safety training among the most frequently cited problem areas.
Workplace Hazard Assessment
Shapes Safety Policies & Training
A comprehensive approach to establishing and
maintaining a safe and healthy environment for all
warehouse workers begins with a full workplace
assessment to determine potential hazards. A thorough hazard assessment shapes safety rules and
Warehousing & Storage Safety
Establishing a Comprehensive Safety Approach
policies, which then must be documented and communicated to all employees, including contract and
temporary workers. An effective safety training
program must be sponsored by top management
and rolled out to all supervisory personnel, who
then assume responsibility for monitoring and
enforcing safety policies among the employees.
A review of the most frequently reported incidents, together with the most common OSHA citations for warehousing and storage, serves as a
guide to some key elements of an effective safety
and health program. Recurring problem areas
include:
•forklifts and other powered industrial trucks;
•CO exposure;
•dock areas;
•HazCom;
•guarding open areas;
•access and facility layout;
•responsibilities of general housekeeping and
equipment maintenance.
There are effective solutions for each of these
problem areas that help reduce hazards, eliminate
accidents and ensure compliance with OSHA
standards.
Powered Industrial Trucks on Everyone’s Radar
Not surprisingly, forklifts and other powered
industrial trucks top the list of most frequent incidents and citations. According to OSHA, approximately 100 employees are killed and 95,000 injured
every year while operating forklifts, with turnovers
accounting for a significant percentage of the
fatalities.
Taking these steps to provide a solid focus on
forklift safety will help an organization avoid such
statistics.
•Train, evaluate and certify all forklift operators
on safety rules and principles.
•Conduct daily trip inspection reports using a
preinspection checklist, covering areas such as
hydraulic lifts, tires, brake lights, possible leakage
and CO emissions.
•Ensure that faulty machinery is red tagged by a
supervisor and pulled from use.
•Ensure that the operator wears a seatbelt
installed by the manufacturer.
•Follow safe procedures for handling and stacking loads, and keeping loads within the forklift’s
weight capacity.
•Maintain low speeds, especially in congested or
slippery areas.
•Maintain sufficiently safe clearances for aisles,
loading docks or passages where forklifts are used.
•Keep concentrations of noxious gases from
engine exhaust below acceptable limits (see the following section on CO).
The fatal
injury rate
for the
warehousing
industry is
higher than
the national
average
for all
industries.
By Tommie
Jones
Best
Practices
The Chabot-Los Positas Community College District’s OSHA
Training Center website, www.osha4you.com/warehousebp.html,
offers additional safety resources including:
•self-inspection checklists;
•powered industrial trucks checklist;
•sample performance test for forklift operators;
•available training course information;
•customized training options;
•instructor resources.
Warehousing & Storage Safety
Best Practices
www.asse.org JUNE 2010 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY 35
•Provide covers and/or guardrails for open pits,
tanks, vats and ditches (see Guarding Open Areas
on p. 36).
Assigning only experienced and fully trained
employees to operate forklifts and all powered
industrial machinery is the best way to reduce risk
and ensure safety.
CO: The Hidden Hazard
CO is a poisonous, colorless, odorless and tasteless
gas that can be extremely
harmful when breathed. CO
is a common industrial hazard
resulting from the incomplete
burning of natural gas and
any other material containing
carbon such as gasoline, kerosene, oil or propane. Common
sources of exposure in the
workplace are forklifts and
other industrial trucks powered by internal combustion
engines.
The OSHA limit for CO exposure is 50 ppm, prohibiting worker exposure to more than 50 parts of
the gas per million parts of air averaged during an
8-hour time period. Higher exposure can lead to
symptoms ranging from headache, fatigue and
nausea to more life-threatening reactions such as
vomiting, convulsions and collapse.
To reduce the chances of CO poisoning, the following precautions should be taken.
•Install an effective ventilation system that will
remove CO from work areas and/or provide adequate ventilation with open windows and doors.
•Maintain equipment and appliances (e.g., water
heaters, space heaters, forklifts) that can produce
CO in good working order to reduce CO formation.
•Consider switching from gasoline-powered
equipment to equipment powered by electricity,
batteries or compressed air, if
it can be used safely.
•Prohibit the use of gasoline-powered engines or tools
in poorly ventilated areas.
•Test air regularly in areas
where CO may be present,
including confined spaces.
•Install CO monitors with
audible alarms.
Dock Safety
Demands Vigilance
Loading docks present various risks that can lead to serious injuries and death.
Common incidents involve workers being caught
between trailers and the dock wall or other equipment, standing at the dock edge trying to see or
talk to truck drivers, guiding a backing truck/trailer,
or manually placing a dock plate or securing/releasing a dock lock or lift gate. Hazards associated with
forklifts include driving off the dock, falling
through a damaged tractor-trailer floor, or falling
off the back of a trailer when a truck pulls away.
A good dock safety program should include the
following guidelines.
Common
sources of
CO exposure
in the workplace are
forklifts and
other industrial trucks
powered by
internal
combustion
engines.
Visit www.asse.org/links to reach this advertiser
36 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JUNE 2010 www.asse.org
•Drive forklifts slowly on docks and
on dock plates, and never back up to the
dock’s edge.
•Secure dock plates, inspecting for
hairline cracks and making sure they can
safely support the load.
•Prohibit employees from standing
or working near the edge of the dock
when trailers are moving or
have the potential to move
(e.g., driver in cab, during coupling).
•Do not allow employees to
stand or work behind or
underneath moving
trucks/trailers.
•Prohibit truck drivers from
coupling or moving trailers in
the dock area until the driver
or another worker has effectively verified and communicated that all employees and
equipment are removed from
the area.
•Provide visual warnings near dock
edges, such as signage and safety cones.
•Verify that dock ladders and stairs
meet OSHA specifications.
HazCom Essential to
Reduce Risk of Exposure
To avoid burns or other serious
injuries from spills or improper handling, any facility that transports or
stores chemicals should have a written
program that covers hazard communication. An MSDS should be maintained for
each chemical to which workers are
exposed, and all hazardous materials
containers should be properly labeled,
indicating the chemical’s identity, the
manufacturer’s name and address, and
appropriate hazard warnings. More
importantly, all employees should be
trained on requirements of the HazCom
standard, the chemical hazards to which
they are exposed, how to read and understand an MSDS and chemical labels, and
precautions to prevent exposure.
An effective HazCom program should
also include other critical steps.
•Provide spill cleanup kits in any area
where chemicals are stored.
•Create a written spill control plan.
•Check that each incoming chemical
is accompanied by an MSDS.
•Train employees to clean up spills,
protect themselves and properly dispose
of used materials.
•Set up eyewash stations and body
showers, and log frequent inspections.
•Provide proper PPE and monitor
its use.
•Store all chemicals safely, securely
and according to the manufacturer’s
recommendations and local or national
fire codes.
•Document all employees’ training
and provide all outside contractors with
a complete list of chemical products,
hazards and precautions.
Guarding Open Areas:
Provide Fall Protection
Falls are a leading cause of workplace
incidents. Floor and wall openings and
open-sided platforms can create serious
hazards, leading to workers falling
through to the level below or being
struck by objects such as tools or parts
that fall through holes overhead.
Important precautions must be taken
to guard against falls.
•Install a standard guard rail on all
open sides of any floor or platform 4 ft
or more above an adjacent floor or
ground level.
•Make sure pits and trapdoors are
either guarded by a floor opening cover
or protected by a removable railing.
•Guard floor openings on stairways,
ladderways, hatchways and chutes with
railings and toe boards on all exposed
sides, swinging gates or hinged covers.
Access & Layout: Important
for General Safety
To prevent incidents, all warehouse
passageways must be open and accessible, and the general layout of the facility
must support hazard-free passage and
safe working conditions for all employees. Blocked exits and inaccessibility
to stored materials create unnecessary
risks that can be avoided with careful
planning.
The most effective method for ensuring safe access is to create a standard
diagram of the entire warehouse layout,
identifying entrance and exit points,
workstations, all floor openings (e.g.,
stairways, ladderways, pits), and the
location of all fire extinguishers, circuit
breakers and other key features of the
work space. Signage identifying important equipment, recommended exit
routes and fire evacuation plans should
be conspicuously posted throughout
the facility.
General Housekeeping & Equipment
Maintenance Are Everyone’s
Responsibility
Often overlooked as important hazard
prevention measures are general housekeeping and equipment maintenance.
Grease on stairs, liquid spills and empty
pallets blocking a blind alley are just
some of the hidden causes of many
avoidable incidents and citations. Faulty
hydraulics, worn gears on conveyor
systems and expired fire extinguishers can be missed without daily inspections, but may
result in serious injury or worse.
The key to safe housekeeping practices and thorough
equipment maintenance is to
train every employee to take
responsibility for workplace
conditions and to reinforce the
need for everyone to monitor
and report all potential unsafe
situations and concerns.
The Five Elements
of an Effective Safety
& Health Program
A effective safety and health program
contains these five important elements:
•Survey and assess the workplace to
determine potential hazards.
•Establish rules and policies to address all hazards.
•Communicate hazards and rules and
provide extensive safety training to all
employees, including contract and temporary workers, and keep good attendance records of the training for at least
5 years.
•Monitor the workplace for compliance and retrain workers as needed.
•Administer an effective discipline
and enforcement policy.
A comprehensive approach that
addresses all potential hazards and provides thorough training and follow-up is
the most effective way to ensure a safe
and healthy environment for all workers
in warehouse and storage facilities.
Tommie Jones is a safety consultant and an
OSHA-authorized outreach instructor and
subject-matter expert for the Chabot-Las
Positas Community College District’s OSHA
Training Center, located in Dublin, CA. He
was the safety and occupational health manager
for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD),
Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin located in Tracy, CA.
He has developed and taught safety and health
classes for more than 28 years for DOD. For
more information about OSHA courses and
training, visit www.osha4you.com or call (866)
936-8472.
Best
Practices
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.