How to Use Commercial Paint to Increase Warehouse Safety?

Warehouse managers are always looking for ways to make their facility safer and safety painting offers a strategy that comes with few risks and a higher return on investment. In fact, the top warehouse accidents according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) include moving equipment, slip and fall accidents, and hitting workers.

Not only does using the right type of paint create safer pathways, but the properties of paint can also increase floor traction and even improve the psychological well-being of employees. While paints may not be able to prevent all accidents, it can, however alert employers to several potential hazards.

It would be courting disaster traveling on a road with no lane markings, stoplights, or road signs. And the same applies to warehouses. Everywhere would be chaos if there were no markings to appropriately direct pedestrian and equipment traffic. It is therefore important that floor lines are used consistently throughout the facility and ensure workers are provided color-coded safety instructions.

For an example, The OSHA has listed several guidelines with regards to floor markings and safety lines:

• Any color can be used to delineate the aisles as long as they can clearly define the designated aisle space area. The lines may be continuous lines, rectangles, stripes, dots, but they have to clearly define the aisle area.
• A width between 2 inches and 6 inches is recommended for the aisle markings, therefore, any width of 2 inches or greater is generally considered acceptable.
• The recommended aisles width should be at least 3 feet wider than the size of the largest equipment that will be used, or at least a 4 feet minimum.

While a quick fix might be temporary floor lines, they are not ideal for warehouses with fixed floor plans. You can use semi-permanent or permanent paint depending on the volume of traffic throughout your facility. You can determine the best options by working with a commercial paint company.

OSHA only suggests colors, but they don’t dictate them, however, there are industry-wide best practices for commercial painting of warehouse facilities. Yellow is the color set for aisles and paths of traffic, and red paint is used for hazards and warnings. The universally known paints include the combinations of red and black, white and black, and yellow and black. 

Besides that, it is up to warehouse management to chose the best color-coded system that works best for them but the chosen color has to be used consistently throughout the warehouse. You can start to structure workflows throughout the building by using painted walkways, which can help to increase productivity. You can also designate the areas for equipment storage and maintenance, as well as travel paths for equipment operators by using paint. 

Furthermore, to boost floor traction and strength, special commercial floor coatings can be used. You need to find the right type of paint and apply it correctly if you want to effectively coat aisles and stairways for protection against falls. By using commercial floor coatings, you further buffer the zone between traffic and concrete or chemical spills, which reduces the wear that causes warehouse floors to get easily damaged and become dangerous to move on.

Peeling, faded, and cracked floor markings are just as bad as not having any markings at all. Even though warehouse paint ought to withstand high volumes of traffic and wear from equipment, it won’t last forever. If despite floor markings, frequent accidents continue to happen in different areas of your warehouse, then you should start thinking of a repaint.

Hire Painting Experts for the Job

When preparing to do commercial floor painting and coating for your warehouse, you need to work with employees to create a plan that works for everyone. The painting project has to be carefully scheduled by taking into account repairs and dry time. Also, ensure the warehouse is cleaned out to ensure optimum paint adherence.

After completing the job, the commercial paint contractor will work with facility managers to plan for cleaning, care, and maintenance and all warehouse employees should be part of this training, with best practices established to ensure the paint lasts longer.

Only professionals who are experienced in warehouse painting are allowed to manage all aspects of commercial safety markings and floor coatings.

The team of professionals you hire should be trained to follow safety guidelines and must have the requisite experience, tools, and equipment to ensure a smooth job all the time.

They should know how to protect floors, walls, doors, equipment, and anything else in the area that cannot and should not be removed. They should also be able to ensure they can work around your schedule to minimize downtime and any impact on your warehouse workflows