It's vital to ensure your workplace is as safe as possible. This means that you must look to control or prevent potential hazards that could impact the people on your site or the site-building itself. But it's also essential to guarantee your assets are protected, for instance stock, machinery or racking. This blog looks at what that means and how best to ensure you're providing a practical level of protection.

The areas that we will cover in this article are the following.

1. Understanding the basics of workplace asset protection.
2. What do I need to know about how I can protect our machinery
3. Looking after your stock and goods with workplace protection solutions

1. Understanding the basics of workplace asset protection

Once the people in your workplace are appropriately protected, and the building is secured from potential damage, it's essential to consider your business's stock and goods. But what do we mean by this?

What are workplace assets?

Assets refer to various elements in the workplace that are important to the business but are neither employees nor infrastructure.

Examples of assets include:

• Facility Equipment that keep the facility running
• Equipment that the facility uses for manufacturing or processing
• Storage systems such as racking
• Your stock or inventory

Why do you need to protect workplace assets?

Each of these asset groups is significant to the success of a business, so employers and the relevant Health and Safety personnel must provide effective protection.

If any of the examples on the list above become damaged because of a workplace incident, there is a chance that it could influence either the personnel or your building and the building's infrastructure. Damage to assets is likely to stall production or at least reduce productivity and could result in a loss of finances, either through expensive repairs or, in the case of stock and goods, lost or delayed customer orders.

How do you protect your assets in a factory or warehouse?   

There are various ways to protect your workplace assets from unwanted accidents and incidents. These include:

• Installing effective workplace safety barrier systems.
• Using projected signage warning systems
• Creating safety guidelines for moving throughout a busy working site.
• Following all appropriate health and safety rules and legislation.
• Maintaining and repairing assets where possible.
• Providing practical training around the use of machinery and equipment.

2. What do I need to know about how I can protect our machinery

Machinery is the instrument that keeps a factory operating. While your machinery is running, production can continue, and people can keep working. For example, if machinery suffers damage or destruction from an impact with a site vehicle, this can have broader ramifications than just repairing or replacing the machine.

Damage to your machinery can mean substantial downtime for your workers and production. If your machinery can't function, you will struggle to fulfil orders and meet deadlines. Not to mention the risks to workers using faulty or damaged machinery.

Therefore, it is vital that you protect your machinery from destruction. By identifying hazards in a risk assessment, you can apply measures to prevent incidents and reduce the risk of disruption.

How do you protect machinery?

By completing a risk assessment, this will allow you to spot potential hazards that could damage your machinery or cause potential harm to others in the facility.

The common types of risks to machinery are:

• Exposed cable trays or conveyors to site traffic.
• Unprotected moving parts that could be hit by forklift trucks and cause injury.
• Wiring or additional components that create trip hazards.
• Areas of machinery causing obstacles for staff and facility vehicles.
• Machinery close to busy vehicle routes which are unprotected by barriers.
• What is the weight and speed of the equipment – this will ascertain the level of protection required

3. Looking after your stock and goods with workplace protection solutions

Your stock needs protecting. It's what your staff spent hours on creating, packaging and distributing. This means that customers are reliant on receiving your products on time. The last thing you want is for a workplace accident to damage or destroy valuable stock. Therefore, crucial to provide the necessary protections:

Take a look at our recent blog on Warehouse Flexible Barrier Protection

Warehouses are used to store or organise stock and store manufacturing materials and components. Storage is enhanced by using warehouse racking, which is large industrial shelving. It is crucial to make sure warehouse racking is protected as it could create considerable damage if they are struck by site vehicles. In many severe cases, an impact on the racking system could result in racking collapsing and damaging large volumes of valuable stock. However, even minimal impacts can damage stock and result in the racking being detained while repairs are made. This can hinder productivity and cause delays to customer orders.

A range of protective products can protect your racking and, in turn, your stored assets.

Rack leg protection

Leg protectors provide adequate additional protection to your racking legs from a collision with a site vehicle. The racking leg protector acts as a buffer to defend racking from all shapes of scrapes, scuffs and knocks, which the protector absorbs and deflects the force of impact away from the structure. Please find out more about our Rack Leg protectors.

Rack end barriers

These work similarly to your standard traffic barriers by providing robust protection from vehicle impacts. These low-level barriers are ideal for defending against site vehicles as they move between racking aisles. Rack ends are especially exposed to damage because vehicles loaded with goods can clip them when turning into narrow aisles. Please find out more about our Rack end barriers protectors.

Bollards

The flexible d-flexx bollards absorb the impact energy. The processed unique material does not damage the bollard and the vehicle. Due to its robustness and high visibility, the bollard is ideal to be installed at entrances to machinery, loading bay doors, and separating pedestrian areas. Please find out more about our Bollard range.

Traffic Barriers

As the name says, traffic barriers separate assets and staff from traffic used daily. The barrier system is available in different lengths and strengths, only as protection up to knee height or with hand guard rails. They are customisable and have a modular design to ensure there is a solution for every situation and building. Highly resistible, flexible material ensures that the optimum protection and cost efficiency is provided and the inventory is protected. Please find out more about our Traffic Barrier range.

Machine Protective Fencing

The machine protection range is a pre-assembled solution for standard lengths, which allows for quick installation. Available in different lengths and strengths, but also used only for visual and light warning and protection and heavy-duty traffic barrier where easy access should still be established. With slider plates, safe protection with easy accessibility is provided within seconds. Additional handrails extend the protection area. Please find out more about our Machine Protective Fencing.

Dock Gate

The flexible Dock Gate is the perfect product for creating more security in loading areas. In daily use, the d-flexx Dock Gate convinces with its easy handling. It can be opened and closed by one person - simple and uncomplicated. The built-in safety spring also prevents the cross tube from lowering or falling abruptly, thus ensuring safe use. In combination with our other d-flexx products, a complete barrier is created. Please find out more about our Dock Gates.

Once you can ensure your staff and the building itself are protected, your workplace assets are next on the list to protect. As this blog has looked at, this covers everything from stock and goods to machinery and equipment. Therefore, it's essential to look at the correct levels of barrier protection you need throughout your facility site. This is to ensure that your production line halted or reduced in any shape or form from accidents and damage to your valuable stock. Through this research and insights from various manufacturers, you can arm yourself with the information you need to make an informed decision.