Industrial strength netting ensures factory warehouse safety and security
In warehouse and manufacturing operations, safety should always be a top priority. But while most warehouses and manufacturing plants have safety plans in place, accidents may still occur. Using specially designed industrial safety netting is a simple and economical way to protect your factory or warehouse from costly incidents, saving time, money, and potentially even lives. It can also play an important role in plant security, providing a barrier that prevents people from reaching into areas that should be off-limits.
Marking hazard zones and creating safety barriers – A critical starting point for safety is to clearly lay out the potential hazard zones on a factory or warehouse floor. Mark the zones where forklifts and other machinery pass through, and keep these markings bright. Although people may already be familiar with the pathways, an eye-catching reminder painted onto the floor is an easy way to promote safety on a hectic day.
In addition to marking the hazard zone, consider a more physical marker or barrier on the plant floor itself to help avoid a potentially dangerous accident. A simple approach to separating potentially dangerous machinery from workers who shouldn’t get too close is to use mesh, wire, or plastic netting as a guard around machinery. This goes a long way to keeping people or clothing from inadvertently getting into a moving gear or sprocket.
If your plant has machinery on the factory floor that could catch an unwary worker off-guard, for example, a water-heater, clearly marking the area and even fencing it off entirely is a good way to prevent unwanted contact, and avoid damaging equipment. Everyday sights – even if the image is a potentially dangerous piece of machinery – rarely register consciously as something of which to be wary. So something to remind busy, distracted workers where these danger zones are is a key way to keep operations running smoothly as well as safely.
Example of netting used as a hazard zone barrier – Safety netting for warehouse and storage areas
Safety netting is an economical but effective way to keep a warehouse or storage area as safe as possible. The most common application is for pallet rack safety, especially for vertical installations in warehouses to keep boxes or parts from falling off a storage shelf. Recommended as a simple but important safety precaution, this type of netting is possibly the easiest way to prevent injury to workers and damage to products from falling boxes and debris. This type of netting also provides a see-through wall for easy product identification.
According to industry veteran David Brentz, a vice president at Minneapolis -based Industrial Netting, warehouse safety netting protects people from falling objects and helps minimize damage to products. He adds, “Nobody wants injuries to affect the lives of coworkers and their families – and they’re expensive. In addition to protecting people, you’re trying to minimize damage to products. If a box falls or is knocked off a shelf the item inside may be damaged or destroyed. Safety netting is designed to prevent that fall.”
RackGuard used to prevent products from falling – For example, Industrial Netting’s RackGuard pallet rack safety netting is a UV stabilized polypropylene mesh designed for vertical applications on shelving and racks as a containment net. It provides economical protection from falling boxes, pallets, or parts and is available in a variety of mesh sizes and tensile strengths. In most cases, the standard duty product (tensile strength of 850 lbs./feet) is used for this application, and installed as a vertical wall to keep boxes or parts from falling from storage racks.
Mezzanine safety is another area in which netting plays an important role. Mezzanines have safety standards requiring railings. OSHA regulations stipulate that the top railing of a mezzanine guard rail system must be at least 39 inches. The actual specification is 42 inches, plus or minus 3 inches, so the guard rail system has to be a minimum of 39 inches above the walkway or the working level of that mezzanine.
Using netting as an addition to mezzanine rails helps prevent objects from being unintentionally bumped from the higher level onto a factory or warehouse floor. Rather than simply using a railing to keep people from potentially tipping over the edge, a mezzanine guard rail screen made of netting creates a protective barrier to keep tools, cans, or small parts from inadvertently being kicked or knocked off a mezzanine into a work area or a factory floor below.
Explains Brentz, “ Much like having a railing around a deck in a home, you not only want to protect the people standing or working above, but also keep in mind the safety of those below who could either be hit by these falling objects or trip over them later.”
Lighter duty material, for example, diamond mesh netting that resembles very small plastic chain link fence, is typically used for mezzanine guard rails. It’s also effective on a mezzanine for making sure that large bolts don’t get inadvertently kicked off, or keeping small parts from getting scattered on the floor and then kicked off past the rail onto the floor below.
Example of netting for mezzanine protection – Using netting for security applications
Lighter duty diamond mesh safety netting can also be used as an inexpensive security barrier. The small opening on this type of netting keeps fingers out of places where they do not belong. This applies both to warehouses filled with valuable products or around a tool crib in a manufacturing facility, where small parts or small tools might disappear if they were unattended.
At some distribution centers stocked with valuable products, this diamond mesh safety netting helps minimizes pilferage by preventing people from reaching into areas where they should not have access. It provides an inexpensive physical fence to prevent people from just going into an area and grabbing a handful of tools equipment and walking out with them. Diamond plastic mesh safety netting is an inexpensive product to install, part because it is easy to cut to shape if it has to fit around irregular corners or have small service areas cut out of it. It can be trimmed to size with wire cutters. This type of mesh essentially creates an open air fence, or a temporary see through wall.
Rather than waiting until a safety or security incident happens to change procedures and correct the problem, the better plan is to prevent accidents from happening in the first place. Industrial safety netting is a simple and economical component of your warehouse safety plan.
