The Impact of COVID-19 on Warehouse Safety & How to Mitigate Risks

As COVID-19 concerns continue to impact business operations, warehouse professionals are proving to be some of the most essential employees around -- because without them, critical items like food and medical supplies wouldn’t be able to reach hospitals or store shelves.

But like all essential employees, they’re also at greater risk, because in order to do their jobs, they have to be on-site along with many other co-workers.

That’s why the calendar below is so important.

Download the PDF version: May 2020 COVID-19 Warehouse Safety Calendar

For one thing, it reminds us that providing COVID-19 safety updates should currently be priority number one at every warehouse.

Limit Employee Risks in the Warehouse & At Home Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

“These updates can cover well-known territory like reminding employees to continue engaging in social distancing and frequent hand-washing. Or they can focus on more off-the-beaten-path advice like reminding them to clean or take off their shoes off before entering their homes in order to avoid the spread of germs,” said Mike Hart, Verst’s Vice President of Risk Management. “Regardless, they really can’t be mentioned often enough.”

For another, it acknowledges that even when one safety subject may merit a large amount of your attention, a good safety training effort isn’t truly safe if it only covers one subject. 

“No matter how timely COVID-19 prevention topics are, the typical warehouse is still full of a wide range of other risk factors like industrial equipment accidents that workers also need to be protected from,” said Hart. “A proactive safety training schedule can never forget to take that into account.”

If you’d like more information about some of these additional risks – as well as some good ideas for addressing them – check out some of Verst’s previous safety blogs and monthly calendars. 

Meanwhile if you’re looking for additional input to help shape your Coronavirus safety training, take a look at our COVID-19 April safety training calendar or our COVID-19 face mask removal tips.  

On behalf of all of us at Verst, we hope you continue to find this blog calendar series helpful. More important, we hope it inspires you to keep the health, safety and well-being of your employees at the top of your to-do list. After all, when push comes to shove, there’s nothing more essential.