If you own a manufacturing facility, there are several steps that you should take to reduce the risk of accidents occurring when your employees need to move materials around your building. Read on to find out what these steps are.

Invest in several hand trucks and timber skids

If your manufacturing facility does not have an adequate number of hand trucks and timber skids that can be used for the transportation of materials, there will be a much greater chance of an accident occurring when your employees need to move a collection of goods around the facility.

If you only have a small number of hand trucks and skids and there are none available when one of your employees needs to bring some materials from one area of your facility to another, they may have to carry the materials in their arms. This could have disastrous consequences if the materials in question are heavy and the employee who is carrying them does not have a lot of upper body strength, as there is a risk that they could either strain their back or accidentally drop the materials onto the floor. The latter could not only result in the materials being destroyed but could also endanger the safety of that employee and any nearby co-workers if the damaged materials consist of anything sharp (such as broken glass) or toxic (such as a broken bottle of a hazardous chemical).

This is why it is critical to provide your employees with the equipment they need to safely transport materials around your building.

A timber skid provides a wide, low (and therefore extremely stable) base on which to stack heavy materials. Placing goods on a skid significantly reduces the risk of them toppling over at any point during the journey from one area of the building to another. When the skid is attached to a hand truck, the process of moving even a very large quantity of materials is virtually effortless and requires very little physical strength. This means that there is almost no risk of the person using the equipment hurting their backs or accidentally dropping and damaging materials whilst they are transporting them around the facility.

Make sure your facility's walkways are free from tripping hazards

It is important to ensure that the walkways in your facility that your employees use when transporting materials around the building are free from any debris that could potentially cause them to trip and fall over.

If, for example, there are discarded pallet straps or loose electrical cables on a walkway and an employee is using a hand truck and a skid to move some materials, there is a chance that their foot could get caught in the straps or cables. If this should happen, they could fall over, and in doing so, they could  knock over the hand truck and all of the materials on the skid. This could lead to the materials being damaged and the employee sustaining a serious injury.

As such, it is important to instruct your employees to pick up and either put away or dispose of any debris that they come across whilst travelling on these walkways.

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