Case study

A-SAFE provides protection to OptimaT employees with installation of loading dock safety barriers

In order to ensure the safety of their employees, equipment and materials in their state-of-the-art carbon-neutral warehouse, OptimaT sought advice from safety-solution experts A-SAFE.

The project resulted in a range of solutions being installed at the facility, including:

Safety barriers to enhance warehouse pedestrian safety.
Safety barriers in loading docks.
Creating a buffer area between employees and the forklifts in operation.

Customer

OptimaT is a leading Belgian industrial supplier and professional services partner that has been in operation for nearly 50. Employing over 550 employees, the company provides a wide range of services including assembly, electromechanics, powder coating and many others. 

Recently, the company constructed their new warehouse, which is 100% carbon neutral. This necessitated a large investment and required high quality protection to its structure, assets and those working within the facility. 

The new warehouse features manual workers and vehicles working in conjunction. In addition, the loading bays of OptimaT’s facilities are a particularly busy part of the operation. 

The company knew that it needed protection it could trust to ensure that workers and mobile vehicles were protected from collisions. It also needed to protect vital areas of the business to ensure that the operation ran as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Situation

OptimaT faced several challenges in providing warehouse pedestrian safety within its eco-friendly facilities.

The warehouse had an exceptionally busy floor, making it crucial that the solutions that were put in place did not affect the smooth, efficient flow of the operation.

Additionally, the company had to take into consideration the environmental impact of the solution it chose. The large investment into a carbon neutral warehouse was made because the company wanted to reduce its carbon footprint. This meant that choosing a solution to their traffic-control and protection problem had to match their carbon neutral goals. These goals made it clear that polymer safety barriers would meet OptimaT’s needs, as opposed to steel barriers.

OptimaT’s in-house safety expert sought out a company that could be trusted, provided high quality protection and worked collaboratively with the team to produce an environmentally friendlier solution.

"The proposed solutions to minimize risks, such as at our loading docks, are efficient, effective, and visually appealing... and the reason I would always choose A-SAFE again."

Andy Vandekerckhove | Chief Technology Officer | OptimaT

Solution

A-SAFE’s range of high quality polymer safety barriers, expert understanding of warehouse pedestrian safety and industry-leading standards in product testing, came out on top of a host of other barrier providers.

The in-house safety team of OptimaT worked collaboratively with A-SAFE experts to find the perfect solution to keep its employees safe on the warehouse floor and segregate forklift trucks from workers without affecting the speed of the operation. Additionally, the correct solution included keeping loading bays protected from damage and ensuring that the logistics operation ran without risk of loading bay closures due to structural damage.

The access ways to the warehouse were designed and solutions fitted to handle heavy traffic without compromising safety for OptimaT’s employees, customers, and visitors.

In addition, solutions were installed to protect vital machinery and goods from damage by the heavy traffic of forklifts used in the operation.

Results

As a result of the partnership between A-SAFE and OptimaT, the teams were able to achieve a safe and structured operation in OptimaT’s warehouse, protecting both people and machinery from potential hazards.

The accessways are now able to handle heavy traffic without compromising warehouse pedestrian safety and vital structural points of the facility was protected along with expensive machinery.

An additional benefit: Polymer has a smaller carbon footprint in its manufacturing and maintenance than steel alternatives. This allowed OptimaT to meet all their seeds needs while also achieving the goal of reducing their carbon impact.