Introduction
UPS is one of the largest messenger companies In the United States with is valued at approximately USD 42.6 billion. The company was founded by a 19-year-old boy named James E in 1907. It quickly grew to become one of the biggest companies with its excellent service. As a result, the company expanded and opened up various warehouses to store their goods as they send parcels to more than 200 countries worldwide. Therefore, the huge warehouse may involve certain risks for its staff who are working there.
The most dangerous jobs
With most of their staff placed as workers in a warehouse, there can be several risks involved. One of the risks involved in fire. In 1998, there are an estimated 36,000 fires that had occurred in storage places like warehouses. Thus, this is one of the riskiest issues that could happen at a warehouse. Apart from that, there is also a risk of store arrangement whereby the order of the hazardous substances and flammable materials are stored in a safe, dry place and away from the staff. Apart from that, there is also a risk of palletized storage whereby the storages mount to the ceiling. This could also be a risky element in a warehouse.
One of the most dangerous jobs in UPS maybe it’s warehouse workers who have to store the products they receive daily. This is dangerous as they are the most exposed to the dangerous elements above. Accordingly, upon hiring staff in the warehouse, UPS does inform the staff that they would need to go for certain training and get thru all of that to work in the UPS. Even with all the training and safety measures taken, the job still involves a huge element of risk.
The risk involved for the staff above is not acceptable or reasonable in any way. However, there is always an element of risk wherever we work, whether we are in an office or some warehouse. Consequently, the important issue is to know whether the company takes sufficient precautions to ensure that during an emergency, their staff’s safety would be their most top priority. This is done by the UPS; they ensure that all their staff hired go for the fire training and other job-related training to ensure that their staff is aware of the risks involved as well as what to do during an emergency.
The company also ensures that all the safety equipment is within reachable points for the staff and also that the safety equipment functions all the time. Apart from that, they also appoint certain staff to take on the role of emergency leaders, thus upon an emergency, the other staff could follow these people.
Fire drill sessions
Apart from the above, UPS also has fire drill sessions to make their staff familiarize with the safe routes and so that they would know what they should do in case of a fire. Besides that, another measure to be taken will be to ensure that all the liquid substances are stored at a distance, away from their main warehouse where most of their employee’s work. This is to avoid any unwanted accidents happening as the liquid substances could be quite hazardous. No doubt working in a warehouse has many of the above risks, the employees still go to work with the trust that their employers will do all that they can to minimize this risk.
References
- “About UPS”. 2008. Web.
- Marshall, J (2007). “Working in a Warehouse-Safety Issues”. Web.
- Plckard, L.M.(2004). “Warehouse Rating Checklist”. Web.