When designing or redesigning a warehouse, there are two very important aspects to consider: efficiency and safety. There are a number of low-threshold measures to improve efficiency. The safety aspect, however, is no less important. After all, a safe design of your warehouse is crucial for any organisation, since accidents can have enormous consequences.

In determining the design of a warehouse, the aim is to achieve an optimal flow of goods. Safety is not always made a priority in this process. This is understandable because increasing safety has no direct impact on the primary flow. The indirect positive impact of increasing safety in the warehouse is harder to see. For that reason, it is maybe more difficult to think of what exactly can be done to increase safety in the warehouse. That is why we have listed a number of tips.

Traffic plan

A warehouse is usually a space in which a lot of movement takes place. Many different types of traffic are constantly in movement. For that reason, it is very important to have a traffic plan. This plan can be used to establish the different types of traffic. Of course, each warehouse has its own characteristics and needs, but a common determination of zone types is:

• Storage;
• Pedestrians;
• Vehicles;
• Parking.

The zones for storage are often already clearly distinguishable because there are racks or pallets or something like that. Two zones, however, are particularly important to highlight: pedestrian zones and vehicle zones. Parking zones are optional.

Separating vehicles and pedestrians

Forklifts are often indispensable in a warehouse. Unfortunately, many accidents involve forklifts. For that reason, it is very important to design the warehouse in such a way that the forklift can be used optimally in the warehouse without compromising safety. One measure that contributes to this is keeping pedestrians and forklifts in separated zones as much as possible. Clearly indicate which zones are meant for which purpose. One of the ways that this can easily be achieved is by symbols on the floor. Mark the relevant zones with a pictogram of a forklift and a pictogram of a footstep or pedestrian.

Impact protection

Unfortunately, marking the different zones is not always sufficient. A vehicle may still end up in a place where it doesn't belong. To protect critical objects and machines and further reduce the risk of accidents, it makes sense to install impact protection to protect pedestrians, racks and machinery.

Protecting racks

It is important to protect racks. Especially if they are placed alongside transport routes for forklifts or other vehicles. This protection can be provided by means of corner crash protection guards. You can protect the corners of every rack with an L-shaped corner crash protection guard. The rack legs that are not on the corner of a rack can be protected by a U-shaped crash protection guard. Instead of a U-shaped corner protection guard, flexible impact protection can also be installed.

Protecting pillars and columns

If a warehouse is very large, there will be pillars or columns to keep the roof up. These should be strong enough to take a hit. However, repeated crashes or collisions could cause problems. Column and pillar guards offers protection to prevent any serious damage to pillars or columns.

Protecting machines

Machines are often expensive and essential for the primary processes of the company. This means that the last thing you want is to have something happen with your machines. In order to protect the investments made in machines, we recommend that you shield these off with hoop protection guards. At the very least the guards should be placed in areas where machines are adjacent to transport routes. It is advisable to choose a hoop protection guard with underride protection. That way the fork of the forklift cannot poke through under the protection guard.

Do you still have questions about warehouse design? Please feel free to contact us.