The business of any company depends upon the efficiency of manufacturing, supply chain and marketing and commercials. Supply chain efficiency depends on the effectiveness of logistics which includes warehouse operations. Warehouse operations can be effective provided warehouse design, layout, infrastructure, processes, staff and safety norms, transportation are appropriate to the requirements.

For accomplishing the required requirements, these functions should satisfy the desired parameters. Above all, corresponding national legal requirements have to be met. The relevant international norms should be met as per agreements. In the case of warehouses that store chemicals and/or materials that may be hazardous to humans, plants, animals or the environment, it is extremely important to have a design that ensures safety. A well-designed warehouse, always helps us to ensure the highest degree of safety and security of cargo from day one.

Warehouse Design Factors:

The main objective of Warehousing should be aligned with company business strategy.

The warehouse design should aim at desired utility of space, orderly layout, safe product storage according to hazard, safe warehouse operations, emergency handling, and security of warehouse. The most important part of the design is the concept of inherently safe design, such as creating a stable building constructed for built in protection. This should cover design of walls, floor, roof, ventilation, retention water catchment basins, fire walls, fire doors, etc. The layout should take care of product storage, loading/ unloading, parking, utility, safety equipment, welfare facilities. The chemical warehouse should ideally be situated away from residential areas, heavily populated places, area should have good connectivity of roads and emergency centres like hospitals, police controls, ambulances , fire services etc should be around the location.

Product storage plays an important role, as product characteristics may have health, safety and environmental hazards. Hazardous chemicals improperly stored and improperly handled in the warehouse, can cause fire or explosion resulting in injury of personnel at site, as well as the neighboring areas and loss of property inside the warehouse and outside. An understanding of hazards and associated risks will help in selecting better control measures. The potential safety and health and environmental impacts can be prevented by implementing control measures in the early design stage.

The Globally harmonized system (GHS) hazard class can guide hazardous product storage. GHS also guides labeling and hazard communication which helps in identifying hazards and also helps in handling measures.

Warehouse Operation:

Once we have a good warehouse design, then what is the next important factor to consider? It is safe warehousing operation. The warehouse management should cover all operations, activities and defined procedures should be laid down for operations and activities. This should begin by default wherein all the employees or operators entering the warehouse should be donning all PPEs ( personal protective equipment ) at all times. Warehouse activities include receiving, verifying, inventory, and dispatches as the main ones in addition to auxiliary ones. There will be operations of loading and unloading involving manual handling and machine handling, which should be carried out safely without having accidents.

HSE (Health, Safety and Environmental) requirements like medical aid, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), fire suppression (such as fire extinguishers) should be met. Medical aids can be used to deliver immediate treatment at site. Since hazardous substances are handled, appropriate PPE like helmets, safety goggles, safety shoes, face shields, body overalls/aprons are required. Firefighting equipment like extinguishers, sprinklers, safety alarms, beam detectors etc should be available for mitigation of emergency. Good housekeeping will prevent potential accidents.

Product safety data sheets (SDS) as per GHS should be available for quick reference in case of emergency. TREM cards should accompany each consignment so that driver can act accordingly as a first measure immediately in case of emergency and further rescue team attending on emergency can take actions accordingly.

Shipping standard markings should be followed before dispatching. These will include names and symbols as per the GHS.

For the efficient working of warehouse, organizational procedures should be documented, implemented and reviewed periodically and should be available at the workplace. Operating procedures/Work Instructions should be available for warehouse activities like - selection of warehouse, evaluation of warehouse for renewing contracts, receiving, storing, dispatch, market returns and damaged and non-usable products, unloading and loading, maintenance and inspection.

Safety – A Key Factor in Logistics:

Hazardous chemicals improperly stored and improperly handled in a warehouse can cause fire or explosion, resulting in injury of personnel at the site, as well as the neighboring areas, and loss of property in and around the warehouse area. An understanding of hazards and associated risks will help in selecting better control measures. The potential safety, health and environmental impacts can be minimized by implementing control measures in the early design stage. The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) guides hazardous product storage, and labelling & hazard communication, which helps in identifying hazards and handling measures.

Chemical transportation must be carefully planned and controlled at every stage – from the production facility to the end-user. Companies need to consider the type of containers used for transporting the chemicals and ensure the right modal mix – whether it should be transported by truck, train, or sea; the organizations that will have access to the materials during shipment; and how they can get real-time information about the location and status of the materials, in order to minimize risk. Logistics management for the chemicals industry demands continuous improvement in operational safety and security. Supply chain security and risk management will be the key differentiator. Chemical warehouses also need to be specially designed for safety. If you have flammable chemicals, you need to have a designated room that contains a sprinkler system and wide aisles. Chemical warehouses also need to be designed to ensure waste streams are contained in case of an accident.

Compliance involves not only complying with governmental rules, but also following voluntary ‘good practice’ guidelines like ‘Responsible Care’. To- achieve certification, companies need to have a detailed and documented process for responsibly managing the logistics associated with chemicals. Logistics models have evolved over time to address the changing needs of the market and vary based on scope of service offering and degree of collaboration across the supply chain. However, the pace of automation in the chemical industry has been much slower compared to other industries. Rapid advances in supply chain technology enables increased functionality across multiple sites and countries and have a great potential to improve performance of supply chains.

As far as possible, let’s keep in mind the following safety guidelines, while storing chemical cargo:

Chemical Storage Classifications

Organising the chemical storage can be quite a task, with many different considerations to take into account. An easy way to increase site safety is to store them by chemical classification. This ensures that non compatible chemicals are segregated from each other and each section can have the correct safety measures taken, such as regulated temperatures for flammable chemicals, and plastic shelving for corrosive chemicals. Moreover, designated areas work to prevent cross contamination and reactions from chemical leaks mixing together. Each section should have a safety data sheet at hand, to help employees identify the risks of each chemical.

Chemical Safety Protection

All chemical storage warehouses are required by law to have emergency response and first aid equipment available. Designated employees must be trained to use this equipment, though the number of first aiders required may differ based on your operation size. This equipment should include a spill kit, personal protective equipment for employees working on site, fire dampening measures and emergency showers and eyewashes. These should be tested regularly to make sure they’re working as necessary.

Our business should also have an emergency evacuation plan in place that is explained to all staff. The emergency exits must be kept clear at all times and all on site personnel should be aware of their location, as well as the actions they need to undertake in the evacuation process. Everyone should be aware about emergency numbers in the event of a catastrophe in the warehouse. The assembly points need to be show cased at all important locations in the warehouse.

Limit the Operation of Machinery

Most chemical storage warehouses require forklifts or other machinery to be operated within. However, such machinery easily cause incidents if they bump, jostle or drop sensitive chemicals. An easy way to increase warehouse security is to ensure only those trained to operate heavy equipment or machinery are authorised to drive them. We should explain this to all staff, and consider keeping the keys in a locked box that only the certified drivers have access too. Other machinery protocol that should be put into place includes designated forklift routes throughout the warehouse, routes for trucks to unload products and speed limits while within the storage unit, or carrying chemicals.

Keep Chemical Areas Secure

As chemicals are dangerous to untrained workers therefore all possible methods should be taken for securing the site. All exits to a chemical storage warehouse should be locked when authorised personnel leave (though the emergency exit should be locked from the inside and easily opened by staff), and the alarm coded. If possible, place cameras facing each exit to deter vandals or thieves, and allow you to monitor your business remotely.

Tool box meetings should include every day in the morning subjects about precautions while handling hazardous chemicals and the DO’s and DONT’s to be strictly followed by everyone working in chemical warehouses. In addition, workers and staff not donning the PPE’s should not be allowed to enter the chemical storage areas. No complacency should ever be permitted in such dangerous cargo chemical warehouses.

Need to Work as Partners:

Continuous improvement of safety and security standards will remain a high priority for chemical companies. This will require close co-operation with logistics service providers and joint improvement program. Stringent selection and continuous monitoring of the performance of logistics service providers will remain necessary. The encouraging growth of chemical- industry in India has naturally brought issues concerning hazardous chemical storage and distribution into sharp focus. The bottlenecks pertaining to infrastructure, suitable storage facility, equipment and technology are posing serious challenges for the growth of the sector. There is a need for continuous engagement at the strategic and tactical level between the chemical industry and logistics service providers.

However, with the government providing a few sops in the areas of storage facility, equipment, etc., the logistics sector seems to be moving on the right track. Hazardous materials storage and distribution risk management involves establishing, organizing, planning, executing and monitoring a set of operations that aims to decrease the probability of accidents and reduce the relevant potential consequences. Governments and regulatory bodies around the world are overhauling chemical regulations. Both environmental and industry groups note that these changes could signal a kind of détente between the chemical industry and its watchdogs over next few years. In other parts of the world, however, the relationship between industry, activist groups and regulatory bodies remains more acrimonious.

Guidelines to a Safe and Secure Storage System for Chemicals:

The available chemical guidelines always shall propose a safer way to establish safe storage and warehousing of chemicals whether already existing or in a planning stage. A proper storage of chemicals can contribute to the safety and health of employees and also the environment. The contents are as follows:

• Key responsibilities: those of the service provider or owner of the chemicals, employer and employees;

• Legal framework: including main points to be regulated and state of the existing legislations – whether we have implemented them while storing chemicals

• Hazard Identification and Communication: the importance of chemical safety data sheet, classification and labelling & a chemical register check for compatibility while storage in warehouse

• Hazard: highlighting common causes of incidents and hazard classification of chemicals

• Sitting and Design of Storage Area: the design of warehouse, location of warehouse or sites, the integrity of the structure and control of possible

• Highlight loopholes in system and take corrective actions for a safe storage. Legislations to be implemented very strictly at all levels at all places.

•  Requirements: Emergency exits , fire door, alarm systems , manning all 24 hours in such chemical warehouses, handling cargo lifting equipment to be checked and driven very safely in warehouses.

• Warehouse Management: preparation of the quality of management, day to day management of warehousing and safe procedures for normal work as well as for abnormal conditions need to be prepared

• Emergencies: covering points such as emergency response plan and its components and general principles of emergency procedures. Training the workers at the warehouse as a continuous process of excellence in safe and secure way of handling chemical cargo, work on improvement of safe processes and train all personnel about the DO’s and DON’Ts of chemical storage and handling

Warehouse Safety & Security-Emergency Procedures:

For large warehouses, audible alarms using smoke or heat sensors may be installed to alert the personnel in the warehouse to be ready for any emergency such as a fire. Sprinkler systems normally are alarm activated. Periodic trials of alarms and maintenance should be carried out to ensure that these work when needed. For very big warehouses, manual audible alarms may be installed at specific distances / every big compartment to alert the personnel in case of emergency. Fire extinguishers of course, are mandatory as well as properly designed fire hydrant systems.

An emergency procedure should be available at the warehouse site to mitigate emergency. Personnel should be trained to use the fire-fighting equipment.  Emergency drills should be carried out and practiced. Clean up after emergency should be collected safely and disposed off for landfill or incineration.

Conclusion:

Warehousing is an important part of the supply chain and warehouse safety is therefore also important. In the case of warehouses that store hazardous chemicals and similar materials, it is even more important to have a good warehouse design that is inherently safe, is secured from thieves and other malicious actors, so that it continues to add value to the organization without any adverse impacts to the environment.