Businesses up and down the country are struggling with a big problem: space. As the economy has come out of recession and has been slowly growing and heading back towards the level they were at before the economic crash, businesses are facing a dilemma. They are doing more trade as the economy improves, and so want to expand, but the recovery isn’t strong enough for businesses to feel they can take a risk on new premises. So what should they do?
To grow with the economy and not get left behind, they need more space. But to move to bigger premises at such a delicate time would be for many businesses a leap of faith too far. Fortunately, there are lots of ways businesses can capitalise on their existing space to make sure they use every inch of what they already have, allowing them to grow without having to move. Here are five key ways:
- Consider a mezzanine floor. If your warehouse, offices, retail store or any other commercial building has lots of space above the ground floor, then it is currently being wasted. A mezzanine floor could double the amount of space you have for selling products, storing products, distribution or could even be used for offices.
- Make sure you are using the most efficient type and size of racking and shelving for your business needs – discuss the options with professionals to make sure the storage you have is right for you.
- Repair any damaged shelves or racking. If you have racking which cannot be used because it is unsafe then it is a waste of resources. Get it repaired or replaced.
- Have regular racking inspections to prevent any future problems before it’s too late.
- Use office partitions and space planning to make the best use of your office space, so that way you can fit more people into the space and work in a more efficient and effective manner.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same, and may need to consider one, all, or a combination of some of these solutions to help create more space for their company to flourish. Give us a call on 0845 689 1300 to see how we can help you.
Whether it’s a setting for your employees to work hard on their daily tasks or an area for your clients and customers to visit, the layout of your office can be incredibly important.
Clients, customers and prospects will not be impressed by somewhere that is dark, dingy, badly lit, cluttered, and altogether unwelcoming. Chances are that they will feel that a badly laid out office is a reflection of the standard of your work. They will most probably be right. And with employees spending around eight hours a day in the office, this dark and cluttered environment will make for rather a depressing place to work, which will most likely be reflected in their productivity.
A bright, well lit and well laid out office, with a modern looking interior will make your employees feel happier at work. It will make your staff feel valued and inspired to work in your offices. If your office is laid out well it will be easier for them to find their way around, and makes work more efficient and productive.
Improving your office layout is probably quicker, easier and cheaper than you think. Logical Storage have experienced space planners who can help you to get the most out of your existing offices without having to move premises. There are a wide range of office partition systems available which include bespoke doors, frames, ironmongery, manifestation to glass partitions, and integrated or stand alone window blinds. They are incredibly flexible, and can be installed and moved quickly and easily, with minimum disruption to your business.
A well laid out, friendly, modern looking, welcoming office can therefore have a big impact on your staff and your clients, and can make your business more efficient and more productive. For more information about Logical Storage’s Office Partitions, please go to the following page on our website: http://www.logicalstorage.co.uk/services/office-partition/ or call us on 0845 689 1300.
Whatever the size of your premises, it is important that you utilize all the space available to you if your business is going to prosper. In the current economic climate, it is far less of a risk to invest in improvements to your current premises than it is to purchase an entirely new one. One great way is to get the most out of unused space is by installing shelving units.
Longspan shelving
Longspan shelving systems allow for easy adjustment of your storage facilities, as and when your needs and requirements change. They are quick to assemble and require no special tools to operate. A low cost option, they are particularly easy to adjust, so if you think you may need to change the way your shelving is set up at any time in the future, then they are a great, practical solution.
Carton flow
Especially helpful in warehouse and manufacturing environments, carton flow is a prime example of how shelving solutions can help your business grow. High quality roller tracks can be installed which allow operators to hand-load items and then stand back as they are delivered to other operators at the end of the track, significantly increasing your businesses productivity.
Office shelving
If used correctly, office shelving can help you make the most of your space. Storage units can be used to create walls and partitions and corner units can help you to utilize any unused space. Shelving can be branded to match your company colours and a wide range of accessories are also available to help you maximise your shelving.
Businesses need room to grow and moving to pastures new can often seem like the best solution, however many people overlook areas of their property that are not yet being used to their full potential. By integrating good quality, future proof shelving into your premises, you could save yourself the mental and financial anguish of looking for a new property.
For more information about shelving solutions, please go to http://www.logicalstorage.co.uk/services/shelving-solutions/ or give us a call on 0845 689 1300.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is considered to be a landmark in law. It was introduced to the House of Commons by the then Home Secretary, John Reid, on 20th July 2006, received royal assent on the 26th July 2007 and came into force on the 6th April 2008 and, for the first time, allows for companies and organisations to be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 created a new offence, which is called corporate manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland.
Before the Act came into force, a corporation could only be convicted of manslaughter if all of the elements of the offence had been committed by a single employee of the company, and even then they had to be so senior within the corporation that they would be seen as “embodying the mind” of the corporation. In practice, this meant that it was incredibly rare for a corporation to be convicted of manslaughter, and it was felt that corporations were escaping responsibility and punishment.
Following the implementation of the act, an offence is committed if the way in which an organisation’s activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.
Failure to carry out regular inspections and maintenance of your warehouse pallet racking could potentially lead to the deaths of employees and subsequently to your organisation being found guilty of corporate manslaughter. If you are a company director or responsible for the health and safety of your organisation, give yourself a good night sleep and let us take the headache of inspecting your storage system away. To find out more about our pallet racking inspections, please click here to visit our website.
For many businesses, space is incredibly valuable. Many of us need more of it, yet we don’t want to take the step of moving to bigger premises in times of economic uncertainty. Therefore, the logical alternative is to utilise the space we already have in the best way possible. Logical Storage can help with this in a number of ways.
One major option would be for us to design and install a mezzanine floor in your warehouse or building, if you have the space for it. This option can double your floor space, allowing you to use the wasted space in your building for offices, storage, retail, production or other uses.
Alternatively, we can look at the type of racking you are using for storage, and assess whether there is a type of racking that is more suited to your needs that you might not know about. You may find that your racking could go higher, or the space between it could be narrower, thus allowing you more storage space. There is a wide range of different types of racking available, such as wide aisle racking, very narrow aisle racking, drive-in racking, cantilever racking and dynamic push back racking. As well as racking, we also have a wide range of shelving.
You might also be losing storage space because the racking that you do have is damaged and not in a fit state to be used. We can make sure that your racking is functioning at optimum efficiency, carry out repairs to damaged racking to ensure it is fit for purpose, and can conduct Preventative Maintenance to make sure that you can continue to use all of the storage space you have available to you.
Out of the warehouse, you may feel that you need more office space, perhaps on your new mezzanine floor. We have experienced space planners that can help you to get the very best out of your office design, with a wide range of partitions.
So, there are lots of different methods that we can employ to make sure you’re using the space you currently have to maximum efficiency. To discuss these options further, please give us a call on 0845 689 1300.
Being an owner managed organisation allows us to be extremely flexible in our approach to working with customers.
The project was particularly interesting, as we needed to ensure the operation remained unaffected by the racking installation and at the same time, execute a phased handover programme.
The first milestone in the programme required us to handover 2000 pallet spaces in just 5 days, which I am pleased to say we achieved with our S.E.I.R.S. approved installation teams. The installation comprises of a 600m2 anti collapse mesh screen, rack upright protection, mesh panel decking, labelling and steel partitioning, all of which needed to be co-ordinated into the programme to ensure the deadlines were achieved.
For further information, please visit www.logicalstorage.co.uk or telephone 0845 689 1300.
In this post we are continuing our look at the various pieces of legislation and regulations that affect health and safety in the workplace. Today, we are looking at the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. These regulations are often abbreviated to PUWER.
PUWER 1998 assesses and aims to prevent risk of injury to workers from any equipment they use. It places responsibilities on employers and businesses which own or use equipment for work, or whose employees use equipment, even if it is not owned by them. The regulations therefore cover any equipment which is used by an employee at work, but not equipment which is used by the public.
The regulations demand that all employers must ensure that their equipment is suitable for its purpose, in good working order, safe to use, maintained correctly, inspected regularly, accompanied by appropriate health and safety measures to ensure that it is not a risk to health and safety, and that it is only used by people who have received the necessary training and information. Machinery must have a maintenance log which is kept up to date.
Equipment includes machinery and tools, and covers just about anything used by an employee for working, including equipment that the employees provide themselves. Employers have a responsibility to make sure that employees’ equipment complies with PUWER. PUWER applies to any workplace where the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – this includes shops, offices, factories, warehouses, hospitals, construction sites etc.
Warehouse racking, along with all other forms of storage equipment, is considered as work equipment, and therefore must comply with PUWER. If your equipment does not meet the standards set out in PUWER then you are potentially risking the lives of your employees, and exposing yourself and your company to prosecution.
The easiest way to ensure that you comply with PUWER is to get a Logical Rack Inspection. We give impartial advice as we do not work directly with original equipment manufacturers, we provide a comprehensive report, and we are highly experienced in the industry. Please give us a call on 0845 689 1300 to discuss one off, annual, bi-annual or quarterly rack inspections for your facilities.
Our previous post looked indepth at the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act of 1974. This post is going to continue our series looking at key pieces of legislation regarding health and safety of employees in the workplace and why it is essential to have regular racking inspections by considering the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations were first introduced in 1992 by the Major government, and became law in 1993. The regulations built on what was already laid out in the Health and Safety at Work Act.
They were amended in 1994, twice in 1997 and in 1999 by the Blair government. The 1994 amendments related to new and expectant mothers, and the two 1997 amendments related to young persons and fire precautions.
The most notable feature of the regulations is the requirement to carry out a risk assessment, and if the employer has five or more employees, they need to record the significant findings of the risk assessment.
Following the carrying out of the risk assessment, employers must arrange to implement the measures identified as necessary in the risk assessment, regularly monitor and review these arrangements, appoint appropriate people to help implement them, create procedures in case of an emergency and inform employees of these, provide training, information and supervision to employees, insure that employees are aware of their duties regarding training and informing managers of any hazards they are aware of, share information with any other employers in the same workplace, and consider risks in particular to new mothers and mothers to be.
In order to ensure the health and safety of your employees and to prevent against risk, it is incredibly important that you have a regular rack inspection in your warehouse. To discuss how Logical Storage can help you with this, please call us on 0845 689 1300.
In our previous blog post, we gave an overview of some of the most crucial pieces of legislation when it comes to health and safety of employees in the workplace, and why it is essential to have regular racking inspections. We are now going to look at some of the pieces of legislation in a bit more depth, starting with the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974.
The Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 is often abbreviated to HSW Act, HSWA 1974, HASAWA or HSWA. It is an Act of the UK Parliament, first introduced by Harold Wilson’s government in 1974 after four years of political wrangling as the UK went from a Labour government to a Conservative one and back to Labour. It is the primary piece of government legislation concerning health, safety and welfare regulation, encouragement and enforcement in the workplace in Great Britain. The Act sets out key principles for occupational health and safety, and brought existing legislation regarding health and safety, which was complicated and confusing, into one easier to understand act. The Act also allows the UK to comply with EU laws regarding health and safety.
The Act has 10 different sections. Section 1 sets out the aims of the act. This includes securing the health, safety and welfare of people at work as well as protecting other people from the risks to health and safety caused by the activities of the people at work.
Section 2, which is our main focus, sets out the duties of employers towards their employees, stating that” It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his/her employees”. It also states that the employer must have a safety policy and must make employees aware of it.
Section 3 lays out the duties of employers towards people other than employees, such as clients, visitors, contractors and the general public. Employers must be able to ensure their safety as far as reasonably practicable.
Section 10 created two bodies, the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive. They were merged in 2008 to create the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who have responsibility for enforcing the act along with local authorities. Breaches of the act can ultimately lead to unlimited fines and imprisonment for up to two years. To read more about the act, click here.
If you have pallet racking in your warehouse, it is therefore essential to have a regular racking inspection carried out to ensure that you as employer fulfil your legal obligations under this act. To learn more about a Logical Storage rack inspection, click here, or contact us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs.
Logical Storage Solutions was formed in 2011 by an industry professional with many years of experience in the storage industry, and provides a number of services to businesses, with a particular focus on warehouses. We aim to be a “one stop shop” providing all the solutions to your storage, workspace and maintenance needs. We can offer a full warehouse fit out and refurbishment, or just specific services depending on the needs of your business.
A key part of Logical Storage’s business is providing a fit out service for warehouses. This includes installing the most appropriate type of racking systems or shelving systems for a warehouse to suit a business’s needs. Logical Storage uses a wide range of different pallet racking systems in warehouses, which includes wide aisle, narrow aisle, double deep, drive through, dynamic push back, dynamic pallet flow, mobile and shuttle. We also offer different types of shelving, including carbon flow, office, industrial, longspan and mobile. We will be profiling some of these in future blogposts, but the key point is that every business is different and has different storage needs, and these different types of racking and shelving systems provide solutions for a wide range of different needs.
Once you have the most appropriate racking solution for your business installed, it is vital that it receives regular annual inspections and maintenance. If not, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 because of a gross breach of a duty of care. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) demands that work equipment such as warehouse racking must meet relevant standards. What may appear as minor damage could reduce the load bearing capacity of your racking by up to 40%, exposing your workers to great risk. This is why Logical Storage offers rack inspections and a full racking repair service, to ensure that companies meet their Health & Safety obligations, protecting themselves from the law and their employees from danger. With our online shop offering everything from stepladders to storage bins, you’ll find everything you need on our site for your warehouse storage needs.
Logical Storage also designs and installs mezzanine floors, creating a huge amount of extra space for businesses, whether that is for offices, retail, production space or storage space. Often in a warehouse there is a huge amount of wasted space above the warehouse floor. Installing a mezzanine floor allows a business to double its floor space without having to extend the building or move premises.
Finally, your warehouse probably doesn’t just consist of storage space, but is also likely to contain offices. We offer a full office partition service, including space planning, to allow you to get the very best out of your office space.
If you think we can help you, please get in touch today!
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