If you work in any of the following sectors – logistics, retail, e-commerce, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and food – you’re likely working with pallets of different sizes to transport and store goods. But how well do you know the dimensions? I’ve been working in the materials handling industry for almost 4 decades, and it strikes …
Manual handling is commonplace in the workplace, yet frequently overlooked by employers, staff and site owners when it falls outside of the stereotypical warehouse setting. Indeed, warehouses, distribution hubs and manufacturing facilities are where most of the materials handling tasks are happening, but they’re also vital processes in shop stockrooms, garden centres, offices and even …
A strategic warehouse layout is one stone for many, many birds. The optimal configuration is ergonomic, efficient, and helpful for everyone on the ground, from warehouse operatives to vehicle drivers, and should even make the lives of external visitors easier. As such, a simple adjustment to your warehouse floor plan can have a tangible impact …
Operational competence is the pillar of manual handling safety – in large-scale factories, warehouses, construction sites, and even the most unassuming stockrooms. To achieve such a feat requires robust training procedures, routine upskilling and creating an environment where staff buy-in and empowerment are second nature. In this practical guide, I’ll be leaning on three decades …
The release of the last Labour Force Survey from Health and Safety England paints a sobering portrait of Britain’s workplace safety: between 2024 and 2025, one hundred and twenty-four worker fatalities and an estimated 680,000 non-fatal injuries were recorded, 17% of the latter due to a manual handling accident. It’s undisputable, then, that manual handling …
Manual handling safety isn’t merely a hollow exercise of dotting the ‘I’s and crossing the ‘T’s; it’s a matter of operational efficiency, compliance and, above all else, workers rights. No one deserves to feel unsafe in their workplace, yet manual handling remains a top cause of workplace absence, despite the buzz around automation and AI-driven innovation. Given that in the 2024/25 period, 680,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury in the workplace, there’s plenty of room …
According to 2025 data gathered by the UK’s workplace health and safety regulator, Health and Safety Executive (HSE), around 2.3 million working days are lost each year in the transport and storage sector due to workplace injury and work-related illness. It’s unsurprising, then, that, for many warehousing leaders, health and safety training is near the …
To an outsider, the term ‘manual handling’ might sound like it pertains to physically moving heavy loads. While this is often true, it’s only part of the story. In high-pressure environments involving material goods – from fast-paced distribution centres and factories to smaller yet equally dynamic stockrooms or garden centres – manual handling tasks are …
You may have unwittingly seen them in garden centres, DIY stores, on building sites or even in your own place of work, perhaps tucked into a stockroom. But what is a pallet truck? These nifty pieces of manual handling equipment are essential devices for moving palletised goods across all sorts of working environments, and in …
Risk assessments have been making workplaces safer, more enjoyable places to be for the better part of a century, but it wasn’t until the advent of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) that this tool for compliance was enshrined in UK law. Since then, risk assessments have come a long way, shaping our …
In fast-paced working environments, from warehouses to retail stockrooms, knowing how to stack pallets safely is essential – not just for maximising space, but for maintaining a safe workplace for everyone. Poorly stacked pallets can lead to serious incidents, including injuries from falling loads, damaged stock, and costly disruptions (both in terms of money and …
Warehousing operations have come a long way since their early days. We no longer rely solely on brute strength and brainpower – although both remain crucial assets – as waves of technological innovation have swept in and disrupted the sector. However, with automation comes increasing demand and operational complexity, which makes the task of ensuring …
