Risk assessment is the process of evaluating risk to the safety of the employees. It refers to identifying workplace hazards and putting protective measures to help control the dangers of these hazards.
Risk assessment helps you eliminate any hazards that can damage your warehouse's functioning and cause harm to the resources that carry out the operations.
Why is Risk Assessment Important?
Here are a few reasons why risk assessment and management is essential –
Preventing Accidents
Risk assessment plays a critical role in the safety of employees. If the risk is not assessed correctly, it can lead to life-threatening accidents.
There are excellent facilities in warehouses and distribution centres, and risk assessment can be vital to avoid unforeseen accidents that can hamper the supply chain.
Evaluate Safety Protocols
Your warehouse has several safety protocols in place to avoid accidents or take action on them as soon as they occur to prevent further harm. Risk assessment allows you to assess the safety protocols and identify if they are still functional in your set up.
With time, safety protocols can also become outdated. Continuous risk assessment can help you identify these loopholes and ensure that you stay updated with your safety protocols to lose out on time or resources.
Training Employees
With risk assessment, you can also train your workers about safety hazards. You can clearly understand dos and don'ts when they work with different machines and equipment.
Safety of Goods from Damage
The primary purpose of your warehouse is to store your goods safely before they are distributed to customers. If the risks are not reduced, your items could face severe damage.
Prioritization of Resources
Risk assessment can give you a clear picture of the resources you need to prioritize to maintain your workers' safety.
Steps to Perform Warehouse Risk Assessment
These are the steps to ensure that your warehouse is examined properly for potential hazards and risks.
Step 1 – Identify Risks and Hazards
Examine all the activities in a warehouse and identify the risks at every step. Figure out what can lead to an accident and record it. This will help you get a clear picture of the risks and hazards, and you can decide your safety protocols based on this raw and insightful data.
Step 2 – Determine Who is at Risk
Next, find out who is at risk because of these hazards. Determine safety protocols based on who is at risk and how they can be protected.
Step 3 – Evaluate the Risks
Third, based on the threats and accidents examined, figure out the risks associated with every operation.
Step 4 – Record Observations
After evaluating risks, track all observations, and keep them safe. Based on these, all statements draw your safety protocols and implement them by training your resources and staff and making necessary changes.
Step 5 – Review & Update Protocols
Carry out activities at fixed intervals to make sure that you review all risks and update your safety protocols accordingly.
Types of Risks and How to Manage Them
Manual Handling of Goods
According to a report by Assocham, about 80% of handling and warehousing facilities are not mechanized, and traditional manual methods for loading, unloading, and handling of food grains and other commodities are used. This means that we require risk assessment more than ever to ensure that workers' lives are prioritized and that the goods being stored by sellers also remain safe.
The evaluation should consider the various sports improvements to reduce the risk of injuries and damage to products like spillage, breakage, etc.
Slips and Trips
Another massive risk while working in warehouses is slipping and tripping. This does not only cause threatening injuries but can also affect your products significantly. Thus, you need to identify threats such as uneven surfaces, improper placement of goods, bad lighting, no water or oil spillage, etc.
After identification of these threats, please take action to manage them.
Working at a Height
Working at height is another potential risk that can lead to immense damage if not taken care of in an early stage. This can lead to massive injuries like broken bones, fractured skulls, or injured muscle tissues.
Fire Hazards
Fire can spread quickly in a warehouse as they are tightly packed and stored with goods. With complete damage to stored products, there might be employee injury too that can take place. Therefore, always assess the risk of fires and pre-plan your evacuation and fire safety plans to mitigate risk.
Conclusion
Management is vital to ensure your products' safety and resources to carry out your warehousing operations smoothly. If your warehouse faces any setback due to an accident or a hazard, you might have to halt all your supply chain operations to cater to it. As it is said, prevention is better than cure. Therefore, you must ensure that you take all necessary steps to ensure your warehouse's safety and efficiency.