Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58508
order to pull products from the shelf. You will often observe people pulling heavy product from a height greater than 6 feet off the ground. Conversely, youwill see people lifting heavy objects from shelves or floor space lower than 2 feet off the ground. Both of these sit- uations contribute to workplace injury. The problem is compounded when these items are considered high-hit or high-pick. If you want to reduce this type of injury, start by considering the weight of your products. Items or packages greater than 40 pounds should be shelved in the strike zone. For those of you who may not be picking up on my baseball analogy, I want you to think about storing heavy pick products between your shoulders and your knees. As a secondary thought,consider the popularity of the products picked. Would you want your highest picked products to be stored on the bottom shelf? Sounds like a recipe for a sore back to me. High frequency picks, either above or below the strike zone, are going to take a toll on your team. Beyond the injury prevention benefit, placing high-pick items on the middle shelves will speed up the picking process and make your team more effi- cient. I hate mezzanines. Ok, I don't really hate them, but they are a huge contrib- utor to workplace injuries.The problem usually centers around the type of prod- uct that is placed on amezzanine.When I ask students this question, several of themsuggest that they store lightweight product up there. I kind of see the logic, but let's be realistic here.Most industri- al mezzanines could handle a full size Humvee, so a pallet of pipe fittings would probably be ok. Other students mentioned that they quarantine higher- priced products there.Again, not a bad strategy unless you consider that most loss due to theft is from internal means. The problem with both of these sce- narios has to do with product populari- ty or hits. Either of these criteria for res- idence in the lofty heights could force your pickers to frequently climb and descend the staircase. I am not as con- cerned with the climbing aspect, but I am very concerned with coming down. Imagine what a picker looks like when they descend the stairswith an armload of product. What happens to their vision? Let's just say that their ability to see the lower stairs is impaired. I think you can see where this is headed. If you have a mezzanine, you might want to consider storing products that are infrequently picked.Think in terms of items that have fewer than 10 annual hits per year. If you've done a "hits" analysis, you may be in for a bit of a shock. Let's just say that the residents of the second floor will have plenty of company. For those of youwho prefer to use the continued on page 41 March/Apr il 201 2 33