When you think about impact protection, you may not be aware of how important it is. Impact protection is required to prevent wear and tear, damage and accidents in warehouse settings, saving you money in the long run.
Why do we need impact protection products?
Impact protection is a vital part of the warehouse environment. You know that warehouses are busy and accidents can happen – and frequently do, even with the best safety measures in place. These accidents, even minor ones, can cause damage to equipment and even the building itself, which can be expensive. Aside from the inconvenience and expense of property damage, it is also possible that personal injuries will occur, which is something you always want to avoid.
How do you know what type of impact protection you need?
There are many different kinds of impact protection, but how can you be sure that you are getting the right kind for your own environment? The first and most important step in finding out is to carry out a risk assessment. A risk assessment can help to identify potential hazards in your working environment, both to property and people, and some of these will require impact protection. By implementing strong and appropriate impact protection, the chances of accidents occurring are reduced. Not only that but when incidents do occur, the severity of them is also lessened.
Different types of impact protection
As we have mentioned, there are many different impact protection options available to you. The kind you need will depend on the area that needs to be protected, and whether there is a high or low chance of impact occurring. For example, if you have a warehouse with many vehicles, there is a higher chance of impact occurring, however, this will be reduced if you have areas that are designated for pedestrian use only.
Corner and edge protection is a good example of impact protection that may be necessary for wall corners and edges that could experience fairly low impacts. Of course, if you are in an area with exposed pallet racking, you know that these areas often see high levels of impact. In this case, you would want to invest in heavier-duty impact protection, such as Rack Armour, which has been proven to reduce the damage done to racking by as much as 80%, protecting both the vehicles in your warehouse and your materials or products.
Important things to remember
There are some other vital things that you need to remember when you are considering impact protection, such as how visible it needs to be. This will again depend on the area it is needed in. While all impact protection tends to be highly visible for safety purposes, some colours are more visually striking than others. Impact protection is usually available in yellow and black, but you can choose some appropriate for various “zones” of your warehouse, in green/white or red/white, with some variations available. If you are protecting an outside space or car park, some impact protection has reflective designs, such as car park bollards, which further improve the level of visibility. This is also excellent for those who use these spaces in the evening or early morning when there is less natural light.
Improving safety standards
Impact protection can be used to improve safety standards in a variety of ways. As safety standards are increasing, this is highly important. Carrying out the initial risk assessment helps you to identify what you need to improve safety, also allowing you to note any areas that are lacking. By implementing impact protection, you are also taking the time to illuminate dangers before they occur and to educate your staff on the importance of what impact protection is there for and what it means. BrandSafe is a UK based impact protection specialist and offers a wide range of high-quality impact protection equipment and impact protection services, suitable for your environment.
As we have seen, impact protection is a vital part of the warehouse environment, both for identifying and reducing risks and the chances of accidents. If you want discover a range of impact protection options, get in touch and shop all impact protection products with UK company BrandSafe.
