Why Is It Important To Maintain a Warehouse Floor?

Warehouse safety is an issue that is often neglected by most businesses, but it is a critical element that must be addressed in any warehouse. Failure to properly protect your employees from the dangerous conditions that can arise from unsafe warehouse environments can result in serious injury or even death. 

You can tell a lot about a warehouse by the condition of its flooring. In no other commercial setting is the floor underfoot expected to soak up such constant abuse. With forklifts and other heavy machinery dragging heavy loads this way and that, and boots trampling everywhere, it’s easy for cracks, tyre-marks and chemical spills to accumulate. 

If the floor looks like it’s seen better days, then it’ll create a poor impression on visitors, and on would-be workers. But such problems don’t just make the floor look unsightly; they also pose a significant safety concern, and reduce productivity in the warehouse. 

Safety

Where flooring is worn out and uneven, with cracks radiating everywhere, then it’s likely to slow down vehicles and create trip hazards for foot traffic. In areas where spillages are likely, it’s vital that adequate grip is available. Providing the floor with a protective coat of resin will also help to protect the underlying concrete against permanent damage. The same applies to specialist floor paint, which makes a great match for smaller spaces.

As well as more obvious threats of injury, we should also think of hygiene problems. Dust and dirt can accumulate over time, getting thrown up by vehicle and foot traffic. This is a significant problem in warehouses where food is stored. But it will also help to drive absenteeism. Treating the floor with an epoxy coating will prevent loose particulates from getting thrown up, and make it much easier to coat.

Lighting

There are several different factors to consider when designing a warehouse lighting design. 

How many high bay lights, how intense they are, and how far they are spaced will all depend on the overall size of the room. A large open warehouse style room with high ceilings would need plenty of strong, fluorescent lights because they need to illuminate an expansive area. However, smaller spaces, such as those with low ceilings would benefit from low bay lighting solutions. Not only would these types of warehouse light fixtures provide plenty of light for the interior, they would also create minimal shadows on the ceiling due to the angle of the lights.

First, you must decide how you plan to illuminate the warehouse interior. Do you plan to use fluorescent lights to help out during the daytime? If so, then fluorescent lighting is usually the way to go.

Other lighting products to consider would include LED lighting products. These warehouse light fixtures are extremely popular and can be purchased in a variety of sizes, styles, colors, as well as shapes. The great thing about LED lighting products is that they offer high levels of light for a very reasonable cost. LED lighting products can also be used as accent lighting by pointing them at windows or walls or even creating unique art pieces using LED lighting products. All in all, choosing from among the various warehouse light fixtures that are available today is sure to result in an efficient workplace for your business.

No matter what kind of illumination you decide to go with, a gloss-covered warehouse floor will reflect more light back up toward the ceiling, helping to distribute light evenly throughout the space, and ultimately to make it easier to spot hazards. A gloss finish will also make it easier to spot areas where the floor has been damaged, and thus make it easier to care for the floor in the long-run.

Durability

Treating a warehouse floor with resin will make it more resistant to caustic chemicals, and to heat and cold. For cold rooms, where goods need to be stored at low temperature, epoxy resin is a good fit. Polyurethane resin, on the other hand, is more resistant to impact, and will lend a degree of ‘bounce’ to any surface on which heavy objects are at risk of falling.

Markings

One of the easiest ways to ensure that your employees and your equipment are properly covered is to install floor markings. Using appropriate floor markings can help your team members know their place in the overall scheme of things. If there are particular areas of the warehouse that are generally used for particular tasks, then you should mark them. For example, if you commonly use the stockrooms for storage, you should mark the floor lines. You may also want to mark walls or ceilings in the area in order to make it easy for your employees to identify where they should be going. By being specific in your warehouse floor markings, you will help prevent accidents and ensure that everyone is happy with their work surroundings.

Clear and visible markings are a great way to partition one section of a warehouse from another, and to direct traffic to where it needs to go. You might use colours and striping to mark loading zones, and to warn of hazards. If the floor has been treated, then these markings can remain clear and unambiguous, leaving less room for misinterpretation.

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