If you have secured a job in a warehouse for the first time, you might not give much consideration to the dangers. While there are more dangerous places to work, warehouses can be the site of some nasty or fatal accidents.
Warehouses hazards can get you from all angles
Warehouses can be frantic places to work. Danger could arrive when you least expect it. Here are some potential danger sources:
- Above you: Warehouses often contain high shelving. Stacked items could fall. Forklifts or colleagues climbing to reach things could knock things off a shelf and onto your head.
- Below you: The ground you walk on could become hazardous for many reasons. A container could break and spill its contents. The cleaner could fail to place a sign around an area they have mopped. Or a worker could lift a cover in the floor, leaving a hole you could fall into.
- Beside you: You do not work alone in a warehouse. If your colleague is clumsy while holding something sharp or heavy, they could swing around and injure you without thinking.
- Behind you: It can be easy to step back from where you are standing and into the path of a passing forklift or a colleague carrying a pile of boxes. Ensure you look before moving.
- In front of you: At break time you might head to the cafeteria to grab a coffee. You might check your phone as you walk. If you have to cross the parking lot or a street, you could walk straight into the path of a vehicle you did not notice.
Every workplace contains dangers. Accidents will happen. If you are injured at work, you should follow the necessary steps to claim workers’ compensation benefits.