Ensuring workplace safety in large distribution centers can be a difficult task. Many facilities have multiple levels where products are loaded and unloaded, and employees are under pressure to distribute inventory quickly. Safety devices installed on the upper levels in these centers must work automatically to ensure employee safety at all times. Many companies planning and building distribution centers are turning to consultants and storage systems designers to assist them with the task of safety.
Based in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Concept Storage Solutions, Ltd. designs, supplies and installs warehouse storage systems across North America. Its customer, Sears Canada, Inc., is Canada's largest single full-line retailer of general merchandise operating coast-to-coast with annual revenues of over $6.3 billion. Sears asked Concept Storage Solutions to design and install storage systems in its distribution centers in order to handle the increased sales volume in 2000. In addition to handling increased sales, the storage systems also needed to keep associates secure, as workplace safety was a top priority for Sears.
A team from Concept Storage Solutions visited two Sears distribution centers, located in Regina, Saskatchewan and Belleville, Ontario, to review the operations. These locations act as the two distribution centers for Sears catalog sales in Canada. The catalog is issued to 4.5 million households and is Canada's only general merchandise catalog. Combined, the distribution centers employ approximately 6,000 associates.
"After carefully considering all of the operation practices at the Sears distribution centers, we recommended storage mezzanines with shelving be installed in the facilities," said Michael Gauci, vice president of Concept Storage Solutions. "We replaced their high bay racking with 400,000 square feet of mezzanines with 60 miles of shelving. It's two of the largest multi-tier storage mezzanine projects in Canada."
"Our associates need to feel and be secure when working thirty feet above the ground level," said Bob Schlosser, operations manager of Sears Canada's Regina distribution center. "In addition to handling our increased sales, we asked Concept Storage Solutions to help us ensure the safety of our associates."
Concept Storage Solutions immediately looked for safety devices that would fit within the Sears facilities. "We turned to Mezzanine Safeti-Gates and its products," said Gauci. "We were interested in the Roly (TM) Safety Gate, finding it offered the highest level of safety required for associates to feel secure when working in the upper levels of the facilities."
"We began working with Concept Storage Solutions on this project through a quote request they submitted through our Web site," said Aaron Conway, vice president, Mezzanine Safeti-Gates. "We originally thought the freestanding Roly gate was the solution for the Sears facility, but after reviewing plans for the facility and sketches of the rack components, we realized that our Rack-Supported Gate would be a better fit in order to maximize available space and to reduce costs by incorporating the existing rack into the safety gate structure."
The Rack-Supported Safety Gate is a dual-gate safety device that utilizes existing standard rack components as its framework. This two-gate system consists of formed channels that attach directly to rack uprights. The front and rear gates are interconnected, so the ledge gate automatically closes when the front gate opens, ensuring that there is always a gate between the associate and the mezzanine ledge. Fingertip control operation increases productivity and reduces the opportunity for injury. These units can be customized to fit any brand of rack and to integrate easily into rack-supported mezzanines or multi-level high-rise carton picking modules.
"The Belleville facility already had rack integrated into the design, so we made our gates fit within the rack structure to meet their specific configuration requirements and to accommodate their pallet loads," Conway said. "The facility in Saskatchewan needed the gates to have more width and depth, so we customized our gates to fit those specifications, and recommended rack that would fit within those requirements."
A total of forty safety gate units were installed to provide safety in high pallet traffic pick up and delivery stations in the Sears Canada facilities. Gauci indicated that Mezzanine Safeti-Gates paid close attention to detail and that the delivery of the units across the border between the United States and Canada was easily facilitated.
"The gate installation process was a breeze," said Gauci. "We've made sure associates working in the Sears distribution centers will be safe while working on the upper mezzanine levels."
"All of the gates have been working without problems for over a year," said Jeff Senetchko, the operations manager at Sears Canada's Belleville facility. "The gates have proved to be an investment in safety and reliability, which in turn, helps us deliver our customers' orders on time."
For more information on Mezzanine Safeti-Gates, Inc. and its product line, contact the company at 174 Western Avenue, Essex, Mass., 01929-1110, by telephone at (978) 768-3000, fax at (978) 768-1101, email at [email protected] or on the Web at www.MezzanineSafetyGates.com.
For more information on Concept Storage Solutions, Ltd., visit the Web at www.conceptstorage.com. Information on Sears Canada, Inc. can be found on the Web at www.sears.ca.