The battery room might be one of the most integral parts of everyday operations at your warehouse — but it also might be one of the most dangerous.

And while training your personnel in the correct battery room safety measures and procedures can help improve the safety of forklift battery changing processes, it still won’t prevent the hazards associated with the battery room entirely.

To better ensure battery room safety, these are the three most essential pieces of forklift battery safety to install in your warehouse’s battery room:

Ventilation

OSHA requires all warehouse forklift battery handling areas to be equipped with adequate ventilation to help keep personnel safe during forklift battery changing procedures. Because forklift batteries produce hydrogen gas during everyday operation, it’s essential to provide ventilation that can diffuse this gas. In high enough concentrations, hydrogen gas can result in explosion, and it’s also an asphyxiant.

Eye wash station

Eye wash stations should be installed within 15 feet of any area where forklift batteries are handled. Even if personnel wear protective eye gear, accidents can happen that expose their eyes to the corrosive chemicals contained in a forklift battery. Eye wash stations should never be obstructed by doors or other items — every second it takes a worker to reach the eye wash station is vital to their health.

Fire extinguishing equipment

As stated before, the hydrogen gas within a forklift battery can cause explosions if exposed to the air at a high enough density. Because of this — and because of the highly flammable nature of the forklift battery’s other components — fire extinguishing equipment is necessary. Be sure your battery room contains fire extinguishers, fire blankets and a properly-working sprinkler system.

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