Organization in the workplace is essential in keeping a facility efficient and workers safe. By taking a few simple steps and implementing easy organization practices, you’ll find workers will not have to spend extra time searching for specific materials and tools, thus ensuring your customers will receive their orders as fast as possible. There are several areas and spaces around a workplace that could use some practical organizational strategies including workbenches, work cells, shelves, walkways, offices, and more!
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Tool organization
If your workplaces use a variety of tools that often get misplaced or you have to dig around the toolbox to find the tool you’re looking for, you could be wasting unnecessary time and putting workers at risk for injury. One of the most helpful and cost-effective options for organization is customizable tool foam.
You can purchase foam tool kits (in several different sizes) from Creative Safety Supply that will allow you to begin, execute, and finish a tool organization project in a single work day. These tool kits come with sheets of black foam and sheets of a vibrant color (red, yellow, or blue) for a two-color system. The black sheet of foam should be cut to the size of the drawer and placed on the bottom. You will then arrange the tools in a logical manner on the piece of colored foam and trace an outline of each tool. Using a utility knife or a hot knife, carefully cut the outline of the tool with a small semicircle that will allow you to easily grab the tool.
The two-color layered foam system will easily show workers when a tool is missing or misplaced, and the durable foam is developed to withstand continual use and is resistant to water and common industrial chemicals. Different colors of foam also give you the option to color code your tools; use yellow foam for hammers and mallets, blue foam for wrenches, or yellow foam for screwdriver storage. Scraps from tool foam can also be put to great use! Use them vertically to create small storage areas to hold screws, washers, nails, etc.
Organizing the workbench
Workbenches are another area that are often need of organization. Whether used my multiple people or a single worker, the entire workplace can be improved by adding organization to work cells and work benches. Sorting and organizing tools, materials, and items used in the work process will increase efficiency and workers will be able to perform tasks easier. First, you can place smaller items found like nails, screws, or pens, in designated bins that are clearly and properly labeled.
Another helpful tool to cleanup your workspaces is the use of mini floor shapes and smaller sizes of 5S tape. Using thin and color-coded tapes you can create smaller areas and “homes” for larger tools, computers, or a label printer. If you don’t want to use entire tape lines, Creative Safety Supply offers mini corners, ideal for desks and workbenches to create outlines.
Shelf and aisle organization
Warehouses with shelves and aisles can be organized to keep workers safe while letting them know where items are kept. Tape can be placed on the outer edge of shelves to mark off areas that should not be placed. Adding barcodes to shelves will not only increase organization, but also aide in employees finding certain products around the facility.
Also, in aisleways, you can create lanes that will separate forklift and pedestrian traffic. By ensuring the two streams of traffic have designated lanes will help to reduce struck-by accidents.
Additional Resources
- Tool Storage Ideas– creativesafetysupply.com
- A Simple Guide for Tool Storage– blog.toolfoamsupply.com
- Top Tool Organization Strategies for the Workplace– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
- The 5S Methodology: Organizing and Standardization in Lean Manufacturing– realsafety.org
- Industrial Floor Marking Color Standards– floor-tape.com
- Reorganizing Your Toolbox– babelplex.com
- Line Marking & Floor Tape– aislemarking.com
- LabelTac Tape in the Workplace– bridge-to-safety.com
- A Lean Transformation: Tool Organization– kaizen-news.com