Your Facility, Made Safer. Protect What Matters Most.

With all you have going on in your warehouse, it’s easy to lose sight of the little things that make a big difference. After all, how often do you really stop to assess the dangers lurking around every corner? For many facilities, at any given time, numerous employees, forklifts, and larger vehicles are entering and leaving the area. Loading and unloading zones are particularly busy, and therefore, inherently hazardous. What warning signs have you posted? What procedures have you put in place to keep people and your inventory safe? The brief guide that follows will help you to create a safer, more productive workplace.

 

Step 1: Small Changes. Big Impact.

 

Mark your zones

 

With zone marking paint, signs, or traffic cones, you can make it clear that unauthorized personnel must keep clear during loading and unloading times. Furthermore, you can mandate how and when forklifts enter designated routes which can be lined with offset bollards that are designed specifically to not interfere with traffic.

 

Slow down your factory vehicles

 

Introduce speed limits in loading areas. This will make the entire system easier to manage and help to establish a safer facility.

 

Railings

 

Sometimes, a physical barrier may be more effective than a sign. A sign may be accidentally obscured for several reasons, but a section of railing installed at the top of the area, with perhaps one access point, solves this problem. A railing can keep a worker from wandering into a potentially dangerous area or it can block a vehicle that is turning into the area that might not see the sign in time. We also offer a wide range of steel guardrails that allow you to protect people and products.

 

Step 2: Beefing Up Your Bollards.

 

When people enter your factory, most of the attention falls upon your product inventory. They will assess your machinery and your hydraulic lifts. But when it comes to making everything and everyone in your factory safe and keeping your product from being damaged, there’s one item that changes the game. The bollard. That’s right, the bollard. It’s the often overlooked, but extremely necessary, part of your factory environment. Let’s consider this for a moment. The bollard goes about its work without fear of injury or complaint, without even the smallest inconvenience of maintenance – no oil change, no fresh batteries, not even a recalibration is required. From protecting trees to parking spaces to inventory shelving, the bollard never rests and never takes a day off.

 

But for all it offers, the bollard is usually not at the top of consideration when it’s time to level up factory safety. Which is why we’ve put together this quick and easy guide to bollards. The bollard serves an important purpose: protecting valuable machinery and your workers. As such, it is important that anybody looking to expand their inventory understands each type of bollard, their intended use, and the expert-recommended way to install them.

 

The most important question to ask, then, is What am I looking to protect? Usually, the answer falls into two distinct categories: Property and Personnel. Let’s look at each of these, and the bollards that protect them, a bit more closely.

 

Three Bollards.

Countless Solutions.

 

You have a piece of high-end machinery that is highly specialized with delicate moving parts and a complex system of controls. As much as you need to protect your workers from your machines, in some cases, you need to protect your machines from each other. Your delicate high-end conveyor belt is not designed to stop a floor sweeper, but the bollard is. There are three types of bollards: removable, permanent, and flexible.

 

Removable

 

This type of bollard is designed specifically to protect a piece of machinery that might need to operate in multiple locations. The bollard can be placed in position and then quickly taken up to ensure that the machine can relocate across the facility without any concern of it colliding with other machinery or equipment.

 

Permanent 

 

This is typically the most durable type of bollard in terms of the impact that it can sustain. To install it, you'll need to drill a hole in the floor in the position you're looking to place it, lower the bollard in, and then fill the base with concrete. These types of bollards are often made from steel or concrete, and some are even rated for 10,000 lbs of impact.

 

Flexible bollard

 

This type of bollard is useful for those looking to protect machines from being damaged in the event of a collision. The flexible bollard springs away from the moving body, transferring momentum away from impact and minimizing damage. These bollards are usually more expensive.

 

So, the next time you're out on the factory floor, in the lot, or heading down a designated walkway, take just a moment to stop and see the bollards. Consider if their placement is optimal or if you need to install more of them around your facility. After all, these unflappable installations are the essential way to safeguard any working environment. For more information about ways you can create a safer workspace visit https://www.globalindustrial.com/knowledge-center/topics/get-prepared

 

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The information contained in this article is for informational, educational, and promotional purposes only and is based on information available as of the initial date of publication. It is the reader’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules, codes and regulations. If there is any question or doubt in regard to any element contained in this article, please consult a licensed professional.  Under no circumstances will Global Industrial® be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on this article.