All in it together

Garment manufacturer Rowlinson Knitwear operates from an old mill building in Stockport. It's not a purpose built warehouse and it has challenges in terms of health & safety and efficiency. To tackle this, the team embarked upon a number of safety initiatives and earned a Highly Commended accolade in the coveted Safe Site category at the FLTA Awards 2017.

Rowlinson's managing director Donald Moore explains: “It’s a warehouse from the 1970s, it's got nothing going for it. It’s freezing in winter, it's got no technology really, it's all about people. We have to rely on our people. So for us to get Safe Site Highly Commended is remarkable. We're proud of the way our people work together.”

For Rowlinson, the company’s very specific culture has driven warehouse safety and other improvements across the business.

Marketing manager Caroline Hamer adds: “The great improvements in the warehouse comes down to how people feel about that space and their ownership of it. And this is linked to the fact that we are an employee owned business. Every employee has a voice in this business.”

See boxout for more on the company’s employee owned model.

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The inclusive culture has had a very direct impact on warehouse safety. 

It was warehouse team leader Shane Banham’s idea to enter the Safe Site Award. Warehouse operative Sean Herbert raised the issue of adding safety bars to the racking, to make loads more secure on the racks and prevent pallets falling.

Chris Rowlinson, production director says: “Sean had seen the benefit of this at other companies and brought it up. Although it wasn’t budgeted for, we priced up the work and went ahead with it. If our staff have a good idea, we will implement it. This encourages people to feed back their suggestions and helps to build momentum.”

As well as having an old facility, Rowlinson has worked hard to optimise storage space which presented some safety challenges. The company upgraded from wide aisle racking to a narrow aisle configuration in two stages in 2012 and 2014, using Link 51 racking, with additional investment in Flexi articulated trucks.

The main challenge was having forklifts and pedestrians working in the same area.

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Rowlinson responded in several ways, including installing Blue Spot technology on the trucks, as well as mirrors on corners so people can check the way is clear.

The firm also invested in a proximity warning card system. Everyone in the warehouse has a card, which gives an audio visual alert on the trucks when people come within a pre-determined range.

The trucks also have camera systems to ensure drivers are correctly positioned as they put in and take out pallets.

The company has also reduced manual handling when destuffing containers by taking on a gravity roller conveyor from Ocon.

But the main change has been through thinking cleverly about processes.

Chris explains: “A few years ago, we introduced a night shift. One of the drivers for this was safety, in that we could do the lion's share of stock replenishment at night. The main reason trucks were operating in the aisles during the day was to replenish pick faces. So this fundamentally reduced the amount of truck movement on the day shift when we pick. We increased segregation through changing working hours rather than physically within the building.”

Training is important too, and not just the drivers but the pedestrians too.

“We’ve used materials bought through the FLTA to boost safety awareness, especially for temporary staff coming in during the summer months when we're very busy,” explains Chris.

Chris hopes to take warehouse safety up a level further when the company moves to a new warehouse, as is planned for later in the year. The new facility is three miles away, still in Stockport, and is a refurbished building that is double the size. 

“It is fundamentally much better suited to us, with enhanced working conditions,” says Chris. “So we’ll be starting with a blank sheet and we will be consulting with staff on warehouse layout and processes. For example, we’ll look at flexible plastic safety barriers as opposed to metal barriers, we’ll look at a ramp system to help load smaller boxes on to trailers to reduce manual handling, and look at a pedestrian-only despatch area.

“Hopefully this will allow us to take the next step forward in terms of warehouse safety.”