Warehouse Layout Optimization for Forklift Safety
With unprotected pedestrian workers, forklifts, and other material handling equipment moving about, plus human error, warehouses and similar working environments are inherently dangerous places. While there are governmental safety regulations and required training to safeguard the working environment, forklift accidents still occur because of improper warehouse layout optimization. Optimizing the layout is important in preventing injurious and deadly forklift accidents. Here, we’ll go through effective ways to structure your warehouse layout so as to prevent forklift accidents where possible.
From forklift aisle width to other forklift organizer tools to keep the warehouse and your workforce safe, this article can serve as a guide to improving warehouse workflows. At ELOKON, we prioritize worker safety in the intralogistics sector, and we’re here to help strategize your workplace layout and safety. Let’s start with warehouse layout optimization.
Warehouse Layout Optimization
Between warehouse aisle width and other forklift organizer tools, there are plenty of options to choose from and combine in order to maximize workplace safety. Let’s explore the choices available to improve warehouse layout optimization for forklift safety.
1. Strategize Warehouse Needs
While this may seem obvious, it’s important to reassess the current warehouse layout and strategize for current and future warehouse needs. Receiving feedback from the floor teams can help restructure the warehouse as they provide valuable insights from their experiences. They can recommend what can benefit the flow of pedestrians and forklifts and what to change to increase safety. Also, consider your company’s unique logistics needs and how they might differ from traditional warehouse needs. Not addressing your unique workflow needs and relying on standard solutions might be working against your efforts to increase forklift safety.
2. Consolidate Working Areas
Consolidating working areas is an effective way to increase forklift safety. Are there areas in the warehouse that only pedestrian workers could use? Are there areas that can be rearranged to keep forklifts and other material-handling equipment from pedestrian workers?
3. Maximize Working Space
If consolidating working areas isn’t possible, why not maximize the working space? If the warehouse can’t facilitate the consolidation of high forklift traffic areas or pedestrian areas, it’s best to increase warehouse aisle width to prevent forklift accidents. While most warehouses typically have receiving, storage, packing, shipping, and service areas, it’s important to increase the forklift aisle width to prevent collisions.
4. Utilize Safety Technology
Keeping current on the latest safety technology can optimize warehouse layout for forklift safety. Warehouse and fleet management software are excellent forklift organizer tools that increase productivity while improving safety. At ELOKON, we’ve developed an extensive portfolio of safety and assistance solutions to increase forklift safety for the intralogistics sector. This safety technology improves warehouse layout by managing forklift fleets and protecting pedestrian employees. Our portfolio includes solutions such as ELOspeed and ELOprotect Anti-Collision System, which are specifically designed to prevent forklift-related accidents.
These are just some of the ways that your company can improve forklift safety throughout a warehouse. Now, we’ll focus specifically on maximizing space and implementing safety technology.
Forklift Aisle Width and Warehouse Aisle Width
Increasing warehouse aisle width can help with improving forklift safety in an intralogistics setting. Not only do you have to account for the forklift size itself, but also the width of the materials your forklifts transport throughout the warehouse. Changing the warehouse aisle width to include the transported materials and enough space to accommodate pedestrians helps keep your working environment safe. Maximizing forklift aisle width ensures that there’s enough space for an unencumbered flow of pedestrians and space for forklifts to avoid colliding with pedestrians, other forklifts, and structural components. Meeting with your floor teams can help your company determine optimal aisle widths to keep your workforce safe.
Although your team and warehouse follow governmental safety regulations, further maximizing aisle width can prevent forklift-related collisions. These collisions can be injurious and deadly and cost a lot of time and money in legal fees and downtime. It’s best to do everything possible to prevent warehouse collisions in the first place. Next, we’ll review some forklift organizer tools that further improve warehouse safety. Implementing these tools is critical in both preventing forklift accidents and managing your forklift fleet.
Forklift Organizer Tools at ELOKON
Forklift organizer tools at ELOKON are the latest safety technology for both assisting with fleet management and promoting forklift safety. Our safety systems improve warehouse layouts by providing real-time assurance capabilities to prevent forklift-related collisions in the warehouse. At ELOKON, we’ve specifically designed our safety and assistance solutions to meet the demanding safety needs of the intralogistics sector with ease. By being compatible with most major forklift makes and models, our solutions significantly decrease pedestrian-forklift, forklift-forklift, and forklift-structure collisions.
Our safety and assistance solutions include ELOfleet (fleet management), ELOprotect (VNA pedestrian and anti-collision system), ELOshield (proximity detection system), and ELOspeed (indoor/outdoor vehicle speed control). All of these systems maintain fleet and worker safety and help prevent forklift-related collisions, especially in narrow aisles. Through uniform data available on smartphone, kiosk, and desktop interfaces, your team can manage and monitor forklift fleet safety and respond to events as soon as possible. By reducing dangers brought on by narrow aisles, busy intersections, indoor/outdoor transition spaces, and pedestrian flow, our proximity detection systems and speed control capabilities significantly decrease the possibility of collisions throughout the warehouse. Our wireless object detection solution can alert forklift drivers and pedestrians before collisions occur. These ELOKON safety and assistance systems may also fulfill your company’s liability and insurance requirements that help protect your corporation. At ELOKON, workforce and warehouse safety is our priority, and we make it easy to implement the latest safety technology in the intralogistics sector.
Increase Warehouse Safety with ELOKON
At ELOKON, we’re committed to providing warehouses around the globe with technology that keeps workers safe from forklift-related accidents. We provide leading innovative safety and assistance systems that protect the workforce. Our portfolio of warehouse solutions, from ELOfleet to ELOspeed, transforms the way that the intralogistics sector maintains the safety of the warehouse working environment. Contact us at ELOKON today to improve your workplace safety as soon as possible.