Because the lift truck battery room is such a crucial part of upholding everyday warehouse efficiency, it’s important to make sure your battery room’s battery changing system is operating at its full potential.
However, when striving toward better efficiency and productivity, it can be easy to neglect safety standards in an attempt to get work done faster — and this is when accidents happen that lead to injury or even fatality. In addition, neglecting OSHA’s safety standards can lead to fines up to $7,000, or even as much as $70,000 for repeat offenders!
Want to be sure your warehouse’s battery room safety is at the level it should be? Check out this list of the three most essential safety features that you need for proper battery room management:
An eye wash station
Accidents happen all the time, especially when handling a forklift battery. And if one of your warehouse personnel gets chemical or electrolyte spray from a battery in his or her eyes, every second matters. No forklift battery room should be without a functioning eye wash station that can flush these chemicals from the eyes quickly — and these eye wash stations should be easily accessible to personnel from anywhere in the room.
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Another safety feature your battery room should never go without is the right personal protective equipment, or PPE. Things like goggles, rubber gloves, aprons and face protection should be made available to personnel as soon as they enter the battery room. No one should even be standing near forklift batteries without wearing this protection.
Proper ventilation systems
Because forklift batteries contain a number of harmful chemicals, OSHA mandates that each battery room must be equipped with the right ventilation systems. This is especially because hydrogen gas, a byproduct of the chemicals within each forklift battery, can cause explosion in high enough concentrations, and that’s not to mention its properties as an asphyxiant.
Have any other questions for us about properly managing and maintaining safety in your forklift battery changing systems? Ask us anything in the comments below. Visit here for more information. More like this article.
