Top 10 tips to Ensure Logistics Safety | LOTUS Containers

“Safety applies to the individual, to the family, to the company & its employee, to the state, to the country and outside the country with an equal force.” This line was started by William M. Jeffers, the former president of Union Pacific Railroad Co. who intended to express that safety concerns the happiness, contentment, and protection of mankind. Every company, regardless of its sector spends a good time, care, and money on the well-being of the people working in their organization. Logistics safety has been a source of concern for all companies, irrespective of the sector they operate in.

In logistics, safety is a prerequisite. This is because the logistics operation is managed by various machinery equipment as well as the handling and transportation of heavy and bulky goods. A minor inconvenience or mistake can lead to harsh accidents, freight damage and even cause harm to workers working there. Container supplier companies adhering to incessant safety practices gain a good advantage over their competitors. Compliance with strong safety practices makes a company more reliable and sustainable.

Ask how?

Let’s understand this with a simple example. Consider that you passed out B. Tech and got a placement offer from two different companies, let’s say Firm A and Firm B. Without a doubt both are profound and have a great existence worldwide. Meanwhile, you heard that Firm A has a very negative record of employees that have left the company within one year of their joining because they weren’t given proper medical care and no leave holidays. While on the other hand, you heard that B has stellar records of employee’s safety and security, leaves, and medical care.

Which company would you opt for?

The fitting reply would be 'company B'. The reason is not necessarily being its behavioral treatment and relationship with employees and staff members. Though it is an important factor another hidden fact underlying this selection is the long-term existence of the company. Continuous failure, accidents, and injuries may question company A of its future sustainability.

Not all freight forwarding companies shed light on this need but the one who does has fewer chances of unanticipated events, fewer fines and penalties, and more on-time deliveries giving the customer a sigh of relief and a marvelous shipping experience. Such enterprises raise bars in terms of logistic safety performance while handling hazardous freight shipment. These risks can also be associated with the equipment, including container types that could be damaged while in transit. These are just some of the common challenges faced by shipping companies regularly.

Did you know?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, merely the warehouse and supply chain experience around 15,000 injuries annually. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) estimated that more than 475,000 trucks weighing approximately 10,000 pounds meet a crash every year. This horrendous data is more than enough to throw light on the greatest need for safety measurement and its practices.

Weighing down the top 10 ways to enhance logistics safety performance

There are many ways to avoid freight damage and thus enhancing the overall logistics safety performance of a shipping container company:

Allot Accountability

Plans are never executed until they are assigned to someone. Unless a person is not given the responsibility to look over the logistics safety of the program, there is an unlikely chance that the plan will be accomplished. Allotting someone with the post of ‘Logistics Safety Leader’ can quickly give a straight direction to achieve and boost the safety performance level. To do this, container shipping companies should filter some of the responsible people and assign them managerial work to organize, implement and achieve safety performance levels. Things become easy to function and achievable when allotted individually. It gives individuals a specific idea of their role and responsibility and they can focus on accomplishing that.

Analyze the Operation

A deep and thorough analysis is the first step to focus on potential problems related to the logistics processes. With thorough analysis comes a deep understanding. A complete analysis of the entire logistics operation and classifying certain areas as ‘high-risk prone area’ and ‘low-risk prone area’ is imperative. It does not only give an idea of where to focus more, but also helps to plan well to mitigate risks. Logistics integrates several operations from loading to unloading of shipping containers, trucking to lifting, packaging to moving, and many more. Every field is needed to be analyzed and addressed properly by an experienced individual or group to assume the areas and work with high chances of risk. 

Identify and Manage Risks

To be able to manage and defeat the risk that could be harmful to the company, it’s important to first identify the risk. The risk could be anything ranging from damage or loss of freight, accidents, natural disasters, injury to workers, or even loss of lives. A shipping company with high records of such mishaps cannot survive in the long run and even questions the company and the authority members. To overthrow risks, the assigned member must visit various departments and meets people in person to know things that should be addressed and taken into consideration. The risks are even greater during the handling of hazmat cargo and therefore it’s a good idea to step back and conduct an assessment program to identify the possible risk and then work on them to vanish.

Networking

Networking plays a critical role not only in the establishment of a business but during its complete life cycle. The logistic safety leader must know the art of networking so that he can coordinate with every other department member and form norms and regulations to achieve safe levels. It doesn’t matter whatever may be the department- from Procurement, Supply Chain, Intermodal Transportation, Product Management, Warehouse, and Inventory Support, Corporate Security, Cargo insurance, Trade Compliance to Asset Management; all should collaborate and join hands to improve the logistics safety level. The logistic safety head should describe and explain the uttermost need that why it is so important and how does it benefit the company and people mutually. In total, it will bring real value to the organization.

Provide Adequate Training

A trained professional works as an asset while an untrained person is similar to a liability. Most container selling companies avoid the need for proper training to their human resource but it important to train new and old employees as well. A new person assigned to some work without proper training may not be able to cooperate with the machines, tools, software, etc., and can leads to severe damage or loss of freight, data anything. Similarly, it is equally important to train old employees as well in times when installing new technology in the process. Though training may seem like spending unnecessary money, it is crucial to avoid and dispel risk and contingencies and thus eventually prove to be beneficial for the shipping company.

Focus on Incessant Improvement

Resolution without improved execution is just an illusion. It’s not how perfectly you execute a plan. If it is not catering to the desired objective, it’s worthless. The safety program ought to be focused on continuous improvement in logistics activities. The safety editorial must look after that whether there is any essence of improvement or not. The company should thrive for continuous improvements after the execution of the plan as it will bring in more perfection and help the organization to mitigate contingencies at a higher level. 

Usage of machine learning and artificial intelligence

These new-age technologies have started to be preferred by container supplying companies in the logistics industry worldwide in order to make the tedious task of maintaining, managing, and expanding the logistics business to great heights. These digitized methods help in better inventory management, automated driving vehicles, pre-analysis of peak hours, and many more services that have eased the logistics process and transformed it onto a whole new level.

Regular Auditing

Incessant auditing of safety ought to be made mandatory as it gives a complete view to analyze and compare scenarios such as before and after safety practices. But the auditing by a senior inspector must be collaborative than confrontational. ‘Regular auditing’ than ‘auditing once in a while is more approachable to achieve the desired result. Departments must be evaluated by auditors based on the safety measure scores and should be rewarded accordingly. This will encourage other departments as well to achieve the required safety levels within their team.