E-COMMERCE AFFECTING RACKING SAFETY
In the past few years, the logistics industry has undergone significant change. Originally focused around bulk delivery to retail outlets, the steady change to online e-commerce business had already started to change the product journey into a single ‘pick-pack-deliver’ process. Then came Covid-19 and with it an exponential explosion in online buying,
This in turn has led to an explosion in the number of ‘visits to racking bays’ across the entire warehousing industry. In many cases, with the pressure for next day delivery, warehousing has become a 24/7 business. Forklift trucks and pick-and-pack operatives alike are having to access racking at an ever-increasing frequency, with ever-increasing time pressure.
Unsurprisingly this increased activity has led to an increasing number of accidents – figures released by RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations) in March this year show a 23% increase in fatalities across the warehouse, logistics, wholesale trade and retail trade. Rather tellingly, fatalities across all other industries have decreased by 7%. In terms of non-fatal injuries, the most recent statistics for 2019/20 suggests there were approaching 9,000 incidents – happily the trend is generally downward over time.
The HSE does not single out how many of these incidents are directly related to defective or damaged racking – we imagine (and hope) the figure is relatively low. But the fact remains that warehouses are dangerous places where it is essential to adopt the very best practices for health and safety.
That is why the HSE and your insurer alike not only insist that your business has a dedicated employee designated as PRRS (person responsible for racking safety) to regularly inspect all racking, but demand an annual racking safety ‘traffic light’ assessment from a SARI certified expert.
The fact is that you can’t always control what your staff do within the warehouse. You can, however, guarantee your racking won’t let you down.
