4 Best Ways To Eliminate Distractions In The Warehouse

There are many hazards in a warehouse which could lead to injury when not attended to. One of the commonest causes of injury is simply not paying attention to what one is doing. When managing a warehouse, you should be aware of distractions in the warehouse, and put in place measures to mitigate them. This is as easy as following a guideline depending on the type of warehouse you run. This is an important issue since distraction can lead to massive damage, loss of property, injury to employees and even lawsuits. There are a few ways of eliminating distractions in the warehouse, and this first requires understanding the most common of these.  

De-Cluttering

Having too much clutter in a warehouse is courting disaster. In addition to being untidy, it rapidly increases the chances of one getting injured or damaging property when not paying attention. This is especially so if the warehousing workers are operating machinery such as forklifts. It’s important to have a strict code of conduct when it comes to keeping the warehouse tidy. All the items should be stored using a method that makes it easy to find them and to reduce the chances of them getting in the way of working employees. This also means that storage facilities such as shelves should be professionally designed to help keep things organized. There should be policies regarding how to handle different types of trash, such as by having different types of bins for different types of trash.

Staff Sensitization

It’s important for your staff members to be sensitized about the dangers of distraction when working in the warehouse. This can be done when they are employed, as well as through regular meetings and drills. This reinforces habits such as not looking at cellphones when working. There should be a penalty point system to ensure that serious infractions have a cost to dissuade employees from distracting themselves. You can even consult a warehouse staffing firm for advise on how to manage your staff members to reduce or eliminate distractions by their own behavior. 

Noise Minimization

Noise pollution can make it difficult for warehousing staff to concentrate on what they are doing, increasing the risk of accidents and incidents. In some cases, they could even take you to court for providing a working environment that is not safe. If the noise necessarily has to come from within the warehouse, provide staff members with earmuffs or earplugs that reduce the ambient noise by a high degree. If you want to go high-tech, you could even buy active noise-cancelling headphones which eliminate noise. 

Have a Strict Cell Phone Policy

Cellphones can be a major source of distraction for warehouse employees. Put in place policies which eliminate this possibility. These could include having warehousing staff not using cellphones when working unless in emergency cases. These policies should be set up such that flouting them will result in major consequences such as job termination. 

For more help in minimizing distractions in a warehouse and generally making it safer for your employees, feel free to consult us and we will help you make your warehouse a more productive and safer place.