Radically increase car park safety at your warehouse

Warehouses and industrial units can be one of the most common areas in the workplace for vehicle accidents. Although cars, trucks and forklifts aren’t typically travelling at high speed, when they are constantly moving to and fro it can be easy to get complacent.

This is when accidents happen.

When people and vehicles collide due to familiarity with the day to day activities, serious injuries can occur.

Often, staff can become so used to seeing trucks, forklifts and other heavy vehicles moving around the site that it becomes the norm and people become more comfortable, tending to take more risks without realising it.

This is where it can be vitally important to set up your car park properly so that accidents are prevented.

Car park safety: how to set things up for success

Parking is always needed for workers, along with visitors, delivery trucks and other vehicles used in the workplace.

Of course, people need to access car parks, so you can’t totally block off access or ban pedestrians from the area completely. What you can do however is ensure that cars and trucks are slowed down as much as possible and that people follow designated walkways. Here are a few key ideas for your car park safety plan.

Make sure the location of the car park makes sense

Consider setting out your workplace car park so that parking areas are located away from busy work areas and traffic routes. This could mean reconfiguring access doors or creating a one way directional system to control the flow of traffic around the area.

Create physical barriers to funnel people away from cars

Setting up walkways by using line marking paint, floor tape, barriers and bollards means people are more likely to naturally follow these designated paths. They can safety access their vehicle or any company plant or work trucks by following a marked path around the danger zone.

Permanent steel bollards and barriers are also ideal for separating areas where people and cars come into close contact, for example near a front entrance to an industrial unit.

Installing steel bollards in a car park will also help protect buildings and property from accidental impacts by trucks, saving you money in repair costs.

For more information on which steel bollards would be the best choice for your carpark, take a look at our buyers guide on bollards.

Slow vehicles down using speed cushions, signage and rumble bars

Although fast and efficient deliveries and warehouse movements make good commercial sense, there’s a tipping point where too fast becomes unsafe.

It’s important to ensure that vehicles, trucks, employee cars and forklifts only operate at a minimal speed around your site, and an easy way to control speed is with devices like speed humps and speed cushions.

Speed cushions are wide speed humps which produce a less pronounced ‘bump’ for large vehicles like trucks, whereas regular speed humps can be more effective at slowing cars and small vehicles.

Rumble bars are another driver alert solution, creating a vibrating rumble effect to warn drivers that they are entering a dangerous area. These are often used on roads to prevent drivers from drifting into other lanes but can have a similar warning effect when used on private properties such as in industrial units, warehouses and factory car parks.

They are useful for centre lines, edges, traffic islands and tight bends on site.

Be extra vigilant around reversing vehicles

If it’s practical at your site, the best option is to remove the need for vehicles to reverse at all. This can be achieved by drive through docks and one way unloading systems. However, often it’s not possible to retrofit a one-way system, especially on older buildings.

In this case, you might like to ensure that warning devices like reversing sensors, reversing cameras, mirrors, rotating lights or audible reversing alarms (also known as ‘quackers’) are fitted to any vehicles that frequent your site.

When vehicles have to reverse, it’s good practice to have a spotter present as well as providing clearly marked and signposted reversing areas. Always exclude non-essential workers from the area when vehicles are reversing.

Safety during loading and unloading

Separate mobile plant such as forklifts by creating exclusion zones that spring into action when loading or unloading is taking place. Everyone should be clear on the correct procedures to put in place when loading or unloading is being undertaken, including warning people and drivers in the vicinity with temporary signs, traffic cones, flashing lights or rotating beacons, alarms and horns.

Part of your safe work system should also include a way to notify the driver when it is safe to leave.

Get the basics right: line marking, signs and mirrors

In general, any car park that is clearly marked and signposted is going to be safer than one where the direction of traffic or access ways are ambiguous or not marked at all.

Make sure your area is well lit and unobstructed with clear, large signage that is immediately recognisable. This is especially helpful for drivers that may be unfamiliar with the site.

Large markings for pickup and despatch areas, site office locations and truck parking bays will go a long way to ensuring your car park is as safe as possible. Additionally, clear road markings like reflective paint and signs should be used to alert pedestrians and vehicle operators to traffic hazards in the workplace.

Aluminium signs installed around your warehouse or industrial unit can help indicate exclusion and safety zones, parking areas, speed limits, vehicle crossings, steep gradients and also show where forklifts are in use.

Blind corners can be marked with signage as well as being made safer with a convex car park mirror.

For more information on how to choose the right safety mirror take a look at our article here that discusses the differences between different sized safety mirrors.

Help with car park safety products

If you need a hand choosing the right supplies to make your car park safer for drivers and pedestrians, get in touch with the team at Jaybro. You can also take a look at the guidance material from Safe Work Australia on traffic management here.