The best way to reduce vehicle and pedestrian collisions in your warehouse

How many times have you heard about a lift-truck operator reversing into a worker who is walking nearby. It happens more often that we’d like. All it takes is being at the wrong place at the wrong time, coupled with distraction or inattentiveness by the pedestrian or lift-truck operator.

Government regulators have developed general safety laws requiring employers to keep workers safe from vehicle hazards. Some provide more direction on how this can be done, including developing a traffic management program with suitable controls.

The first step in developing a traffic management program is to carry out a workplace traffic assessment.

Traffic assessment

The purpose of a traffic assessment is to identify potential hazards and assess risks related to the movement of vehicles and pedestrians in the warehouse. This process is essential for maintaining a safe and efficient work environment that aligns with regulatory guidelines and industry best practices.

The traffic assessment should be done in consultation with workers because they have the best understanding of the challenges they face in their work environment. The assessment should look at:

■ Hazards and controls: Identify and consider measures to correct hazards that contribute to a collision. For example, multiple pallets stacked high at intersections restricting visibility can simply be eliminated or the height reduced.

■ Workplace layout: Look at all areas of your business using a map. Loading docks, receiving, shipping, pallet staging, battery charging, driver entrance, empty pallet storage, racking, parking, equipment such as pallet wrapper, etc. Is this the best layout, or can it be improved?

■ Flow of traffic movement: Determine where people walk and where mobile equipment operates.

■ Frequency of interactions: Where do people come into contact with mobile equipment and how often does this occur?

Follow these steps when carrying out your assessment:

■ Review documentation, including incident reports, current expectations for operators and pedestrians to avoid collision and applicable training programs. This will help you to focus on areas of need and determine effectiveness of controls.

■ Tour the workplace, focusing on high-risk areas. Document through pictures. Determine if your policies and procedures are being followed. For example, are lift trucks stopping at high-risk intersections?

■ Interview staff using photos. Ask simple open-ended questions, such as, “What happens in your workspace?” and “What ideas do you have to make it safer?”

■ Document your traffic assessment. Keep it simple; you are basically putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to provide a picture of your current traffic challenges.

Developing controls

Now that you have completed a traffic assessment, you can brainstorm ways to control the hazards you have identified. This is perhaps the most important stage of the process.

When choosing controls, remember to follow the hierarchy of controls, which lists the most effective controls, in descending order of effectiveness.

Here are some examples:

■ Elimination: Remove people

■ Substitution: Use a manual pallet jack instead of mechanical if practical

■ Engineering: Install a guardrail

■ Awareness: Use signage

■ Administrative: Develop policies and procedures

■ Personal protective equipment: Wear high-visibility clothing

Traffic management program

Documenting everything in a traffic management program ensures workers, supervisors and management are on the same page when it comes to preventing collisions between mobile equipment and pedestrians. It should cover what controls are in place and how you plan to sustain or keep them going:

■ Policies and procedures to keep your workers safe: Outline your expectations of pedestrians, operators, supervisors and senior managers based on the controls you have put in place.

■ Training: Document who needs to be trained and on what, including refresher training for both pedestrians and operators.

■ How incidents are reported: Include near misses to support your prevention efforts.

■ Monitoring: Outline supervisors’ responsibility to observe behaviours and commend or correct as needed.

Putting it all together

In conclusion, here are a few takeaways:

■ Take the time to complete a traffic assessment of your workplace; be thorough.

■ Develop a traffic management program, clearly defining what is being done to prevent collisions.

■ Implement controls following the hierarchy of control methodology, beginning with eliminating people from high-risk areas.

■ A traffic assessment and control program is similar to a traffic management program; they both identify struck-by risk and ensure suitable controls are in place.