How To Keep A Warehouse Clean

Keeping on top of the cleaning and maintenance of a warehouse is a seemingly never-ending job. And when deadlines are tight and workloads are high, all but the most essential maintenance jobs can fall by the wayside all too easily – but that’s also when they matter most.

Warehouses are often high-traffic areas with people, equipment and pallets moving constantly, so health and safety are paramount. Even a floor littered with too much dust and debris can turn into a big issue.

If you regularly struggle with keeping on top of cleaning in a warehouse, factory, or industrial yard, read on for tips on how to make it manageable, and handy product suggestions from trusted brands like Widdops. But first, a quick refresh on why it’s so important.

Warehouse safety regulations

Warehouse safety regulations state that, as a factory or warehouse owner, it’s important that you maintain a tidy working environment for the whole team for health and safety reasons. And while the cleaning shouldn’t be solely your responsibility, it’s important to keep up with regular maintenance and make sure that your premises are up to code.

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974 states that all employers are to ensure the health and safety of anyone affected by their work or in employment, including minimising slip, trip and falls risks as reasonably possible. With the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requiring the floors of your workplace to be suitable for the type of work that will be performed on it, kept in good condition, and free of any and all obstructions.

Keeping your workplace in a manageable condition allows you to minimise the risk of slips, trips and falls and reduce hazards around the warehouse. Introducing regular tidying, sweeping and cleaning schedules will help keep on top of any problem areas and allow your team to share the responsibility and take pride in their workspace.

If you’re struggling to keep your premises clean, not only are you potentially putting your staff and customers in danger, but you can also risk failing a health and safety inspection – which could be catastrophic for your business!

How to tackle warehouse cleans

Warehouse spaces, on the face of it, look easy to clean – with concrete or resin floors, you’d imagine a simple sweep now and then would do the trick. But don’t neglect your racking and shelving, plus any machinery, office spaces and break rooms – a simple sweep won’t do the trick.

Some companies offer comprehensive warehouse cleaning services, but, these can be costly. Not only are you paying for the cleaning itself, but depending on the machinery in your warehouse, they may require your business to cease working while your premises undergoes a deep clean to keep the cleaning staff safe. This could be detrimental to a business that is in constant operation, so this may not be an option except in very rare circumstances.

Dividing up the job – daily tasks and deep cleans

It’s easy for cleaning in industrial spaces to get put off until it becomes a bigger job than it needs to be. It doesn’t need to be a full deep clean every time – focus on establishing a routine plan where some jobs are done daily, some are done weekly, and deep cleans should be as regular as possible without causing too much disruption. But if you stay on top of the smaller jobs, that deep clean will get quicker!

Having all hands-on deck is the ideal way to tackle a deep clean. Enlisting your team for help during the cleaning process and giving each person a designated area they’re responsible for will not only get the job done quicker but will also give employees a sense of pride in their workplace.

When doing a deep clean, it can be time-consuming but ask your staff to time how long it takes them to do their section, this way you can accurately monitor each person’s cleaning and see if it takes less time with more regular cleans.

When doing deep cleans, you must provide your staff with the right products and equipment for them to be able to clean their area properly and give them enough time to do a thorough job. While a deep clean is in progress, it’s the ideal time to remove any clutter and reorganise any areas of the warehouse that may have become a dumping ground for miscellaneous items.

Breaking it up by area

You can also make the job more approachable by focusing on different areas individually, whether cleaning different parts at different times, or by sharing responsibility between teams who have their own area to take care of.

Walls and windows

Best case scenario, a dirty window looks depressingly uncared for. Worst case, it actively creates a risk by blocking natural light and reducing visibility.

Depending on the height and size of your windows, a pressure washer may do the trick. Using the high-pressure water stream and window cleaning solutions will remove any dirt and debris from the surface, leaving your windows sparkling.

For harder to reach windows and skylights, look into local window cleaning companies in your area, they’ll have specialist equipment and cleaning solutions and provide a variety of services – this is one area where outsourcing might be essential, as extra qualifications for working at height might be needed. However, it might not be so invasive that work needs to stop while the cleaning is done.

Inside your warehouse, keeping your walls clean is as simple as brushing off any dust and using a mix of soap and water to remove any stains and marks. Make sure to move any large objects and equipment regularly to clean behind, as well as underneath.

Equipment and racking

The permanent fixtures of your warehouse are the ones that will gather the most dust. Any stock or cardboard boxes that have been sitting at the top of the racking will most likely have a layer of dust on them, even if you clean regularly.

It’s important to be safe while cleaning shelving units and racking, using ladders or a small cherry picker to reach the higher shelves is the ideal solution. To remove dirt and debris from the racking, use microfibre cleaning cloths, dusters or a small vacuum cleaner to wipe surfaces and ensure you move items to clean underneath and behind them.

Floors

While it may look like your best option is to look at hard floor cleaners and specialist ride-on machines, these machines are specialised equipment that requires training to use and when used improperly can become a safety hazard.

While heavy-duty purpose-built cleaning machines might get the job done, there’s an easier solution already within your reach! Most warehouses and factories will have at least one forklift truck; they’re a warehouse essential if you’re moving pallets and heavy stock, and they can do more than you think.

Utilising the lifting prongs on the front of your forklift and adding custom-built attachments, you can turn a basic forklift pallet truck into an easy-to-use sweeping and cleaning machine.

There are several industrial forklift brush attachments available on the market which will suit a range of popular forklift brands and sizes. One of the leading industrial forklift brush attachment manufacturers is Widdops, who offer a range of forklift sweeper replacement brush heads, so you can always have one to hand in your warehouse. Widdops offers a wide range of forklift attachments and other brushes suitable for use in warehouse settings and factories, with custom options available.

Utilising a cleaning schedule for your employees and wider team, paired with the easy-to-use forklift industrial forklift brush attachments, you can ensure your warehouse remains clean, tidy and most importantly, safe.