Extra Safety Guidelines for Pedestrians for Forklifts

Eliminating safety hazards is critical for warehouses to ensure safety. When it comes to warehouse safety—especially with forklifts rumbling around—setting up the warehouse for warehouse safety is a very big concern.  Because pedestrian fatalities can be extremely devastating and occur in warehouses very frequently, a continuous improvement upon pedestrian safety in warehouses must be considered.  Many new products and guidelines are being developed to help keep pedestrians safe. Below this article will be providing some guidelines to help improve pedestrian safety.

The first thing that should be required is having clearly indicated areas:

1. Setting up clearly visible safety guidelines to be followed before pedestrians enter the warehouse.

Any entryway for someone to enter a warehouse should have extremely visible signs showing exactly what should be worn, as well as what safety hazards they should be aware of. This way anyone entering the warehouse will be able to see these signs and know the safety requirements before entering the warehouse.  Some of the most common items that should be included on the sign include:

• What safety equipment is required to be worn while inside the warehouse
• Making the reader aware that it is necessary that they walk only along the designated pedestrian pathways
• Warning the reader of the possible dangers inside the warehouse, including forklift and other industry small trucks operating inside the warehouse, any possible hazardous chemicals existing within the warehouse, as well as any dangerous materials that could fall on them within the warehouse.

2.Setting up clearly indicated areas for pedestrians to walk

Just like sidewalks, crosswalks, and street lights are used and are clearly identified by pedestrians for knowing where it is safe for them to walk, a warehouse should also have clearly indicated areas to help pedestrians to understand where they are required to be present. Using cautious signs for crossways where forklifts can drive through can help indicate areas where pedestrians need to be extremely cautious.  Creating pathways that are clearly indicated where pedestrians need to walk will help insure they are not walking out in the middle of a designated drive area for forklifts. 

 3. Setting up forklift and other industry small trucks road paths clearly

Making the warehouse paths viewable as actual streets with segregated lanes clearly indicated just like a street path helps forklift and other industry truck drivers aware of areas they should be required to drive through.  Additionally, making the drive areas viewable as streets helps pedestrians indicate that this is an area within the warehouse that industry forklift trucks are allowed to drive, giving them a sense of awareness of possible dangers. 

4.  Making sure safety signs are clearly placed when  using forklifts and forklift accessories

Before a forklift truck is loading or unloading any material they should segregate the area by placing signs around to alert pedestrians to stay away.  This should also be followed for any type of forklift accessory or forklift attachment being used.  The dangers of material falling on nearby pedestrians can be extremely fatal.  Therefore placing warning signs to stay away from forklift trucks loading or unloading material can help pedestrians realize the dangers of going near the forklift truck.