Whether you operate a warehouse, construction site, retail business, or an office, you and your employees face potential dangers while on the clock. In fact, each year thousands of workers are injured on the job. Some of these injuries are serious, even life-threatening, while others are minor – but all injuries share one thing in common… they are preventable.
Worksite accidents are not only dangerous, they are also costly. If you are a small business owner, even one workplace injury can lead to major out-of-pocket expenses– from compensation pay to equipment downtime and loss of productivity.
Safety barriers are a tool that can help greatly reduce the risk of accidents at work. In this article, we will highlight the importance of having adequate safety barriers in your facility to prevent tragic and expensive accidents from occurring.
The Benefits of Safety Barriers in Reducing Accidents
The best way to avoid a workplace injury from occurring is by preventing people from entering dangerous areas to begin with. Creating boundaries is vital. Well defined safety boundaries help ensure both employees and onsite visitors stay out of harm’s way before accidents have a chance to happen. The following 5 tips are ways you can reduce the accident rate at your facility by using barriers to create safe boundaries:
1. Define Designated Areas
People are much less likely to enter a designated area if there is a physical barrier present. Electrical equipment, heavy machinery, rooms that are being cleaned or sanitized, and hazardous waste are just some of the commonly encountered danger zones at many facilities. Blocking off an area with a highly visible barrier is an extremely efficient way to communicate to people which areas to avoid.
2. Separate People and Moving Machinery
Most facilities will have separate lanes for pedestrian traffic and moving machinery. However, there are certain cases where these pathways are shared. In this instance, a well-placed safety barrier can play a huge role in minimizing accidents.
Shared paths should always be avoided to prevent cross-traffic, but if this is not possible, use a highly visible safety barrier to clearly distinguish the moving machine route so workers and guests know how to safely maneuver through the site.
3. Increase Staff and Visitor Awareness
Awareness of one’s surroundings may diminish throughout the day as fatigue sets in. This is where safety barriers are important. Safety barriers provide a visual cue to those who may not notice potential dangers. If a floor is slippery or wet, for instance, a highly visible barrier is the perfect alert to keep people out of the area.
4. Protect Against Forklift Traffic
A safety barrier can help keep forklift operators and pedestrians safe by providing a visual cue that a forklift or other heavy machinery is in use in the area. Barriers are a reminder to exercise caution around heavy machinery.
5. Help Communicate Maintenance Work
When machines have been turned off for maintenance work, or an elevator, dock door or other area is being worked on, it is important to communicate to staff and visitors that the area is closed. Without this knowledge, a worker could potentially turn on a machine while someone is working on it, resulting in devastating consequences.
The Best Safety Barriers to Use
The best policy when it comes to using safety barriers in your facility is to focus on visibility and high-quality materials. A safety barrier should be easily visible from all angles. Using a bright, noticeable color is highly recommended. Many safety barriers are vibrant yellow or red in color to ensure they stand out and are distinctly noticed from far distances. It is also important that the barrier you choose is robust and can withstand the elements. Even indoor-only barriers should be durable and long-lasting. Ease of use is also something to consider. If an accident does occur at your site, having a system that is easy to deploy can minimize the risk of further incident.
Secure Your Business with Banner Stakes
Banner Stakes offers barrier systems that are durable, versatile, convenient and with greater visibility than anything else on the market.
The multi-surface wall mount Magnetic Line system features rare earth magnets, the strongest in existence, to produce significantly stronger and more durable attachment. These versatile and retractable barriers use integrated suction cups to allow you to attach to more surfaces including metal, stainless steel, glass, wood and plastic.
Banner Stakes PLUS Line features industrial strength barriers made to withstand harsh working environments for both indoor and outdoor use. These barriers will not corrode or rust over time. The base can be filled with water or sand so they will not tip over. The PLUS Line cart provides convenient storage, easy mobility, and quick assembly.
All of Banner Stakes retractable banners are 2.5” wide, which is 25% larger than the standard competitor belt to increase visibility and safety.
Conclusion
The safety of your facility starts with taking the right steps to prevent accidents from happening. Safety barriers can be a useful tool you can use to help this process. Setting up safety boundaries in danger zones are the ideal the visual cue and physical barrier you need to alert workers and visitors to be mindful of their surroundings. The pay-off is enormous if it prevents life-threatening injuries from occurring. Even minor injuries, which can be costly, can be easily prevented with the use of safety barriers.
