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Posted By Barry Tovey
I have been told that it is common practice amongst warehouses to wear Fluorescent ( or over) jackets because of Forklift truck movement.
Also that they wear hard hats because of objects falling from height(high racking). Although I have campaigned for the fluorescent jacket side of things, management does not feel operatives require it. We have assessed pedestrian movement alongside electrically powered vehicles but this was probably not thought of at the time.
Would it be considered that our controls are not sufficient?
I know by the nature of the staff that they would object to the fluorecent jackets and it might be restrictive.
Review I know! has anyone any thoughts on this?
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Posted By Shaun Ingram
Barry ,
I worked in large warehouses within the MOD for many years, certainly the wearing of hard hats in high racking areas was common place .
As for any PPE issue the risk assessment for the area should highlight the need for flourescent clothing , do you have separate traffic / pedestrian routes and are there any records of accidents or near misses between the two elements.
Flourescent jackets were issued to those employees working with delivery vehicles and forklifts , where the majority of the work was either outdoors or in "Dock" areas .
It boils down to risk assessment of your individual site and how up to date and accurate they are !
Thanks
Shaun
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Posted By fats van den raad
Barry
During a recent visit by the HSE the one item that she came up with was that it had become "common good practice" to wear Hi vizibility garments in the warehouse. Since then I have issued all personnel working in the warehouse with Hi visibility vests at a laughably small cost. I had a lot of resistance at the start but soon wore off and now everyone is wearing them as a matter of course.
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Posted By Steve Holliday
Barry,
We operate a warehouse at our factory and have mandatory High-Vis policy throughout both the warehouse and Loading Yard. Our initial risk assessment only specified High-Vis for the yard partly because light levels could not be guaranteed. When we reviewed this risk assessment we made the warehouse mandatory High-Vis as well as all operatives tended to wear their vests at all times.
As Fats has said vests are cheap and they certainly do not restrict movement in any way.
All complaints will likely disappear with time, but initially you could ask one of the dissenters to demonstrate exactly how they are restrictive. Not great for ‘touchy feely’ industrial relations, but it will show the lack of merit in the restrictive argument. Especially as being trapped against a wall by a FLT is very restrictive.
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Posted By steve e ashton Unless you can prohibit pedestrian movement where FLTs and delivery trucks are working, then yes, all pedestrians and drivers should wear Hi-viz. If you have problems getting people to understand why, try quoting some of the case study examples from the HSE site... eg: http://www.hse.gov.uk/wo...sport/casestudies/06.htmHope this helps. Steve
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Posted By Keith32
In my experience it is normal practice to issue/wear hi vis jackets in warehouses/yard areas etc.
Not very PC in terms of management, but maybe anyone who refuses to wear is given 2 options - wear a hi vis jacket or find alternative employment.....
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Posted By Gordon Thelwell Hi Barry, It just so happens i have written a little piece on this very subject: http://www.therackgroup....=new&action=topics&fid=3In my experience as a warehouse safety officer i will always advise that any changes/enhancements involving people should involve them as much as is reasonably possible e.g. let them choose and trial their own Hi-vis clothing. Good luck, Gordon.
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Posted By ken mosley
In the ensuing investigation following an accident it would be asked whether reasonably practicable measures had been taken by the employer.The wearing of hi-vis clothing would probably be considered as a reasonably practicable measure.
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Posted By fats van den raad
Let them choose their own hi viz clothing?? I don't think so. They'll end up choosing the 5 star Rolls Royce Model while I know for a fact that the cheaper 2 star family saloon model does exactly the same job very nicely, thank you, and at a price less likely to give my MD a heart attack. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting the employees involved in trialing and helping with specifying etc. but then that has to happen with a very firm hand on the reality handle. In my experience employees can very quickly turn "nice to have" into "need to have".
And no, I'm not just saying this. I've made the mistake of giving employees free reign to choose safety footwear!! What did they come back with?? "If we gotta wear safety boots, it's absolutely gotta be Caterpillars!!! Nothing else will do the job."
At £70-£80 a pair... I think not!!
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Posted By Weee Dram
When I risk assessed our warehouse I made a recommendation for all people in there to wear hiviz. The management decided it wasn't necessary, but when I asked them to sign their names beside the 'no need to action' note they put by my recommendation they soon changed their mind.
They need to realise that it isnt the safety advisor responsible for safety- really it boils down to the management. Therefore its in their interests.
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Posted By Gordon Thelwell
No, not free choice. Just a selection of hi-viz jackets that you deem fit for purpose (that has been assessed on the grounds of PPE Assessment - with the people in mind and not just your wallet). Nothing personel but your attitude does disturb me somewhat.
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