The importance of storage conditions for safe warehousing
<\/strong>The term storage conditions refers to a set of factors and technical, technological, and organizational measures aimed at maintaining the quality and quantity of products during their time in the warehouse, as well as ensuring safe working conditions for warehouse personnel, the safety of the building and warehouse assets, and the protection of the natural environment. The basic factors ensuring the required product storage conditions include: the type of storage space; construction, building, and installation requirements resulting from the physicochemical and biological properties of the products; climatic conditions in the warehouse regarding temperature, relative humidity, air pollution levels, and air exchange rates; the method of storing products and their arrangement in the storage zone; the possibility of storage with other products or the necessity of storage in a separate room; permissible storage periods (shelf life, durability periods, etc.); types of personal protective equipment for warehouse workers meeting, for example, hygiene and sanitary requirements, protection against corrosive substances, etc.; and procedures, equipment, and measures to be applied in situations of accidental release of a substance or material (leakage, evaporation, spraying), as well as for its neutralization.<\/p>
During the time that raw materials, supplies, semi-finished products, and finished goods are in the warehouse, processes occur that affect their quantitative, qualitative, and functional changes, and may also pose safety risks to people, the facility, and the environment. If the proper storage conditions required by the stored products are ensured in the warehouse, these processes proceed according to accepted standards and within established parameters. In the case of storing hazardous chemical substances (e.g., flammable liquids), exceeding the air temperature in the storage room can cause an uncontrolled pressure increase inside the packaging, loss of seal, the release of flammable or explosive gases, and a dangerous risk of fire or explosion. Such risks may also occur when different substances are stored in the same room that react with each other in a dangerous way, causing fire or explosion hazards. At the same time, failure to use the required personal protective equipment and established procedures for handling these substances can pose a threat to the health or life of warehouse workers, a threat to the warehouse itself, as well as to the surroundings and the natural environment.<\/p>
In a well-managed warehouse, a situation should never occur where only a foul odor, a change in consistency, color, or volume serves as a signal to the warehouse worker that preventive steps must be taken. Because the physicochemical and biological characteristics of stored products vary greatly, to ensure safe storage conditions, each product requires individual and frequent monitoring of parameters and procedures resulting from the storage conditions established in relevant standards and regulations.<\/p>
Safety risks in the warehouse from stored hazardous chemical substances
<\/strong>Of the products currently manufactured by the chemical industry, about 35% are chemical substances and preparations characterized by hazardous physicochemical properties. These are products with hazardous properties that, during the storage process (during handling, moving, stacking, and storage operations), can create safety risks in the warehouse. This group of products has been identified, classified, and—to distinguish them from other products—named hazardous chemical substances.
The storage of hazardous chemical substances and materials characterized by aggressive properties (flammable, explosive, toxic, carcinogenic, etc.) creates a high degree of safety risk for the warehouse facility, the inventory stored within it, technological equipment, the warehouse surroundings, and the environment, and in particular for the employees working there. Storing large quantities of these aggressive substances in warehouses creates a high degree of safety risk, especially in emergency situations. In such situations, arising from the delivery to the warehouse of a hazardous chemical substance or material in improper (usually leaking) packaging, the use of inappropriate equipment for handling and storage, the use of inadequate personal protective equipment, or damage to packaging as a result of incorrectly performed warehouse operations (especially during pouring or transferring) or a warehouse worker’s error while performing these tasks—an uncontrolled release of the substance into the environment (leakage, evaporation, spilling) may occur, causing a safety risk through fire, explosion, contamination of the storage space, the warehouse surroundings, or the environment, often resulting in loss of health or life of employees and great material losses and damage. Fire, explosion, or detonation is the most common result of improper storage of hazardous chemical substances or materials.<\/p>
The reduction of safety risks in the warehouse and the conditions for their maximum elimination will be created when the aggressive properties of these substances and the risks they may cause in the warehouse are thoroughly identified, and when appropriate recommendations, requirements, and conditions regarding their safe use, which are contained in applicable legal regulations, standards, and norms, are met and implemented in the warehouse.<\/p>
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 6\/2010.<\/p>