What Are The Four Warehouse Dangers At Work

Warehouses are large buildings that store “things” such as raw materials, machine or device components, and finished goods for distribution to retailers. They often become busy and even frenetic places during peak demand periods of the year. This places a lot of pressure on their workers to move products rapidly explains one of New York work accident lawyers at the F&A injury law firm. Unfortunately, some warehouse managers solve this by compromising safety as well as pushing their workers too hard and/or making them work long shifts. A warehouse full of rushed people on foot moving among racing forklifts through cluttered aisles is an accident waiting to happen.

Some common warehouse accidents include:

Forklift Accidents

Forklifts can easily become unstable when they carry a poorly balanced load or a load that is elevated too high off the ground. The higher the load, the greater the tipping action when cornering, braking, or moving on an incline. Cracked or tilted floor slabs can cause loads to drop or the forklift to tip over.

Poor lighting, excessive speeds, and operator distraction can cause collisions between forklifts and workers on foot. People are sometimes crushed to death in these collisions. Forklift operators may become crush victims themselves after a tip-over accident because they failed to use their seatbelts.

Slip, Trip, and Fall Accidents

Rushed warehouse operations often mean there is no time to clear up cluttered aisles or clean up floor spills of water, oil, and other fluids. These create slip and fall accidents, trip and fall hazards for workers carrying out their inventory picking and packing duties.

Hit by Objects

Forklifts may accidentally dislodge and drop inventoried items from shelves located high above other people. Shelving may collapse under the weight of its stored inventory, or when a forklift collides or bumps into one. Sometimes collapsing shelves can cause nearby shelving to collapse as well. This can cause multiple worker injuries and even fatalities.

Overexertion and Repetitive Motion

High turnover inventory should be shelved at waist level to avoid exertion with the lower back. However, not all warehouses do this and not all inventory can be placed in such ergonomically friendly locations.

Overexertion may happen because workers fail to use mechanical lifting devices or the devices aren’t available. Overworked laborers with fatigued bodies are at increased risk of injury from both overexertion and repetitive motion. Fatigue reduces muscular coordination, reduces alertness, and makes the worker more accident-prone.

If a warehouse accident injured you, get the compensation you need for your recovery with the help of experienced work accident lawyers at Frekhtman & Associates. For a free case evaluation, contact us today.