Page 38 - OHS, April/May 2024

WORKPLACE SAFETY TECHNOLOGY
How Connected Safety Can Unlock Warehouse Safety
Using connected safety can ensure compliance with OSHA’s latest NEP, protect workers, boost efficiency, and prevent safety issues before they become safety incidents.
BY LORENZA ORDONEZ
What happens when you com- bine labor shortages, supply chain disruptions and an increasing number of con- struction projects? For safety managers around the globe, that adds up to a grow- ing number of workplace safety incidents.
While the top 10 OSHA citation rank- ings remained relatively unchanged from the year prior, overall citation numbers across the board increased in 20231. As busi- nesses across numerous industries continue to struggle to remain compliant, OSHA stepped in with a recent National Empha- sis Program (NEP)2 focusing specifically on warehouses and distribution centers. This NEP, announced in July 20233, aims to re- duce current injury rates in this space, which in some sectors occur at more than twice the rate of that in private industry.
Safety hazards in warehouses and across distribution centers are abundant and wide- ranging. Some commonly seen risks center around forklift accidents and injuries; the often-invisible ergonomic injuries; as well as slips, trips, and falls. But there are others such as falling objects, hand lacerations, PPE compliance, and heat stress that can impact workers as well. These hazards are not unique to these environments, but the breadth and depth of hazards within a warehouse is what makes the environment particularly challenging.
The worst part? Businesses often lack visibility into what’s happening, or struggle to correct the pattern without the proper insights.
Fortunately, there’s good news. Tech- nology, specifically connected safety solu- tions, can play a significant role in not only identifying and mitigating risks before they become OSHA citations — but in helping businesses manage their overall safety pro- gram like never before.
The Power of Connected Safety
Connected safety solutions, as the name implies, utilize networked devices such as cameras and wearables enabled by sensors
— among others — to collect data on po- tential safety hazards, analyze the informa- tion and trigger or communicate a response to users or safety managers. They can often act as an extension of the safety manager, pulling valuable insights into a single dash- board. Enabling these safety managers, who are often spread thin and wear many hats within their organizations, to have all facets of their safety program illustrated and available with only a few clicks trans- forms your business to better protect your employees and your bottom line.
From the simplest of reminders around equipment repair and inspection, to real- time environmental monitoring in high hazard spaces, these technologies are poised to rapidly change the landscape of workplace health and safety.
To see how it all comes together in the warehouse, imagine a company wants to reduce injuries, near misses, and citations due to Powered Industrial Trucks (fork- lifts). A connected safety solution could capture forklift activities via a camera sen- sor and highlight zones with the greatest risks or hazards. This would let the orga- nization make structural or procedural changes that could help reduce these in- cidents or near misses. Additionally, they could incorporate a wearable with a fork- lift sensor that not only prevents an indi- vidual from operating a forklift if they are not trained or credentialed, but also helps avoid collisions with a zoning sensor that disables the vehicle if it senses a potential collision.
Given the broad scope of potential haz- ards, many organizations need to have an extensive array of solutions that integrate with each other to address their specific concerns. The ability to customize a con- nected safety solution is certainly a huge ad- vantage, but understanding which solution will best meet your needs can be a daunting task.
Here are four considerations to help narrow down which connected safety ele- ments are right for your specific warehouse
or network of distribution centers:
1) Understand the problem you are try- ing to solve: Identifying your specific chal- lenges and their cause is key. But defining an expected outcome is just as important and will play a large role in determining the most effective solution. For example, if your organization is seeking to under- stand the unknown risks that exist in their warehouse, the very discovery of these risks would be the expected outcome. Be clear on the issue(s) you are trying to identify and what the goals are to address them. When identifying your challenges and ideal outcomes, consider the following
questions:
■ What injury or hazard is consistently
impacting the work environment?
■ Are slips and falls your biggest area
of concern? Is this specific to a particular zone or area in your facility that may re- quire greater attention?
■ Do you understand the ergonomic hazards that are present? Are costly mus- culoskeletal disorders (MSDs) occurring in your workplace?
■ Are there risks and hazards that you may not have identified yet?
■ What do near misses say about trends in your facility or jobsite, and how can you course correct?
2) Concentrate on connectivity: Con- nected safety solutions don’t have any pow- er unless they are truly “connected” to each other. Understanding the right type of con- nectivity that a device needs, and ensuring its availability at the facility, is paramount. And yet, not all connectivity options are the same. For instance, some devices only function in an enclosed and wireless set- ting, while others can function with both wireless and cellular connectivity.
Others may use an “offline-mode” or partial offline mode where the device(s) will capture data while in an environment with no connectivity or low signal, and then send those data points into the cloud upon returning to an environment with connectivity. Keeping these requirements
38 Occupational Health & Safety | APRIL/MAY 2024
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