StoreSAFE: How We Do Things At Blackwoods

Put yourself in this position. You’re in your crowded home garage and you want to pack away your surfboard, but where do you put it? You see a space at the top of some shelves in the corner. It might be a bit of a squeeze, but it’s worth having a go. A few seconds later, you’re on your back pinned to the concrete floor by shelves, tools, engines, a vice, a ladder, some fishing rods, an old boombox and your twin-fin. It can happen. It does happen.

Now, think about your workplace

Most Supply Chain businesses have a common problem: How do they safely store and access large amounts of goods, which are often heavy, safely at height? Movement of palletised goods using a mobile plant introduces a potential hazard of goods falling from the pallet at height, creating a risk to pedestrians and mobile plant operators that may be in the area. One option is to design pedestrian-free warehouses, however this does not eliminate the risk completely.

The key requirement of the StoreSAFE program is that all goods stored on pallets more than 2 metres above floor level must be secured, or contained, so that the goods cannot fall to the ground below.

At Blackwoods, our StoreSAFE Program is a key initiative within our GetSAFE Management System. The StoreSAFE operating system sits alongside the physical storage framework and it underpins the safety processes around product storage across the entire Blackwoods business. The key requirement of the StoreSAFE program is that all goods stored on pallets more than 2 metres above floor level must be secured, or contained, so that the goods cannot fall to the ground below.

Its core elements include:
• Design of storage equipment
• Integrity of pallets and product restraints
• Supporting measures: traffic management planning, storage procedures, information training, inspection and monitoring, auditing, and processes for hazard/incident reporting and follow-up action.

To support these elements, large signage on pallet racking has been introduced which shows a simple four method matrix for the storage of bulk goods at height. It clearly demonstrates when and how the following should be used:
• Stretch Wrap
• Pallet Collars
• Cages
• Load-Rated Straps

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