Warehousing: Worker Safety Series

More than 145,000 people work in over 7,000 warehouses. The fatal injury rate for the warehousing industry is higher than the national average for all industries. Potential hazards for workers in warehousing: Unsafe use of forklifts; Improper stacking of products; Failure to use proper personal protective equipment; Failure to follow proper lockout/tagout procedures; Inadequate fire safety provisions; or Repetitive motion injuries. Warehouse operations can present a wide variety of potential hazards for the worker. For warehousing establishments, the 10 OSHA standards most frequently included in the agency's citations were: 1. Forklifts, 2. Hazard communication, 3. Electrical, wiring methods, 4. Electrical, system design, 5. Guarding floor & wall openings, and holes, 6. Exits, 7. Mechanical power transmission, 8. Respiratory protection, 9. Lockout/tagout, 10. Portable fire extinguishers.