According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the storage and warehousing industry averages about 15,000 work-related injuries and ailments per year. For trucking, OSHA approximated that about 475,000 trucks weighing more than ten thousand pounds were involved in accidents. These incidents led to an estimated 5,360 deaths and 142,000 injuries.
These numbers point to the high levels of the danger inherent in the storage and trucking industries, which are both parts of logistics work. They also point to a high need for good safety management by logistics companies. So, it’s vital to highlight the importance of reporting procedures like incident reporting.
Here are 4 reasons why having an effective incident reporting channel is essential in logistics.
1. Decrease costly accidents
Incidents, depending on their extent and severity, can be very costly to your business. With intricate systems involved in implementing good logistics, every little cost matters. Recurring and/or severe incidents can really dent your budget - by department and as an organisation overall. The possible cost to your organisation is not just financial. Your employees could get injured or worse.
Thus, a top reason to prioritise incident reporting is to decrease costly accidents and incidents. It can also help identify how they happen and how to address them. Resolving issues as they arise will help to avoid the cost to your organisation in the long run.
2. Identify root causes
Underlying the above reason is this truth: some incidents are avoidable. Through incident reporting and by tracking similar incidents and their causes, you can identify the root causes of incidents.
Then, you can set up processes and facilities that help you prevent these incidents in the future and reduce costs. Ultimately, you can avoid many incidents with the right safety management and workplace safety culture.
3. Enhance operations
When incidents occur, they can (and often do) affect your workflow and productivity. For example, if a collision occurs at your site, it can cause a significant delay. In turn, this can have a direct impact on your client or customer deadlines.
An effective incident reporting channel will help remedy incidents more efficiently. At the same time, it will prevent avoidable incidents from occurring thereby enhancing operations.
4. Foster a culture of safety
Establishing and promoting incident reporting encourages an open and safety-conscious work environment. With safety policies and an incident reporting platform in place, your employees can feel confident that they are safe at work.
By encouraging safety reporting, you show your workers that their feedback and input is important to your safety culture. And, by addressing those issues and maintaining communication throughout the resolution process, you indicate that their concerns and wellbeing matter.
Final thoughts
Having a safe working environment is vital to successful logistics business management. By driving incident reporting, you can protect your employees, maintain high productivity, avoid delays and keep customers satisfied. Not to mention, you save costs in the long run by avoiding costly incidents.
You can also use incident reports to prevent issues, accidents, and challenges in the future. That way you can focus on what matters - improving your bottom line!
Do you want to learn more about safety metrics and KPIs? Get our free guide:
We are building the world's first operational involvement platform. Our mission is to make the process of finding, sharing, fixing and learning from issues and observations as easy as thinking about them and as rewarding as being remembered for them.
By doing this, we are making work more meaningful for all parties involved.
More information at falcony.io.
