Top 10 Low-Cost Fixes HSE Can Implement Today

Practical, field-tested tweaks your team can make this week to reduce risk of incidents, keep people safe, and improve traffic flow. Light budget, high impact, and easy to maintain across shifts.

 

Fix 1 - Find & Fix ‘Pinch Points’

Pinch point = a tight spot where people and vehicles converge or visibility narrows (aisle ends, dock mouths, battery bays, corners, bay doors). Be aware that ‘pinch points’ can change during the course of a shift or working day dependent on the flow of people.

What to do:

• Walk the loop. Trace the busiest hour’s common routes for pedestrians and vehicles. Circle 3–5 pinch points where near-misses or hesitation regularly occur.
• Mark the “decision line.” At each pinch point, add a stop/hold bar (4–6" wide) on the floor where drivers/pedestrians should pause and check.
• Use arrows and “Horn Here.” Floor arrows and a small “Horn Here” decal at the stop bar reduce silent roll-throughs.
• Install convex mirrors. Place mirrors so drivers see cross-traffic before they nose out; adjust for driver eye height.
• De-clutter the view. Move stacked pallets, bins, and signs 24–36" back from corners and aisle ends.

In practice: A 3PL in Ohio cut dock-mouth near-misses by half by adding a stop bar, a “Horn Here” cue, and a convex mirror 10' inside the dock door - installed before the Friday rush and checked in Monday’s stand-up.

Fix 2 - Make Sightlines Obvious

People move confidently when they can see and be seen. Drivers commit fewer micro-stops when strike heights and edges are loud and clear.

Quick wins:

Edge bands at driver eye height. Add a high-contrast wrap or paint band around permanent obstacles at typical driver eye height (usually 44-56").

Keep it clean. End-of-shift wipe on mirrors and critical floor markings (30-60 seconds per hot zone).

Light the problem. A low-cost LED light aimed at a dark corner often beats more signage.

Right-size signage. Post no more than 3 rules per sign (“Stop • Sound horn • Yield to Pedestrians”). More words = less read. Keep these consistent across site. The sequence will become an embedded good-habit for drivers.

In practice: A food distributor in Indiana moved a pallet rack 30" further back from an aisle mouth and added a 2" reflective band on a bollard protecting the outer rack leg. Operators reported fewer “bollard scrapes” in the first week and shaved 2 seconds off each pass-through.

Fix 3 - Set Simple Speed & Horn Cues

You don’t need fancy telemetry to make speed expectations stick.

How to implement:

Zone signs, not threats. “5 mph - Horn at Bars” posted at aisle entries and docks. Keep it calm, not punitive.

Speed by feel. Paint short, dashed lines across the floor (8-10 ft apart). Supervisors can judge speed by time between dashes without a radar gun.

One cue, many uses. Train to always sound the horn at stop bars (pinch points, blind corners, dock faces).

Reinforce weekly. Add speed/horn checks to the weekly walk. If bars are scuffed away, repaint immediately.

Fix 4 - Keep Pedestrian Routes Unambiguous

If the walkway is unclear, people will take the shortest line—and that’s when they drift into drive lanes.

Make it easy to choose the safe path:

Bold walk lanes. 3-4" floor tape with footprints at intervals; avoid narrow lanes that force single-file squeeze.

Crossings that behave like crosswalks. Zebra-style crossings where walk lanes cross drive lanes; add a stop bar for vehicles.

Door landing zones. Keep 6-8 ft clear on the drive side of doors so people aren’t stepping straight into traffic.

Guardrails where they earn their keep. Short runs at high-exposure points (e.g., time clock, water station) to separate feet from forks.

One default route. Post a map that shows a ‘happy path’ for pedestrians between common areas. Consider using painted or stickered ‘footprints’ to indicate the ideal route.

In practice: After two near-misses at a timeclock, a plastics plant in Texas shifted the clock 8 ft off the drive lane, added a short guardrail, and painted a zebra crossing. The ‘stop-and-go’ dance at shift change disappeared.

Fix 5 - Celebrate Near-Misses and Encourage Reporting

If it wasn’t written down, it didn’t happen—and you lose the chance to fix it before the next hit.

Keep it lightweight:

Sticker + Sharpie. Place a small “What happened?” sticker sheet at the supervisor board. Log date/time, spot, equipment, and a 5-word description.

One metric on the board. Post “Last 7 days: near-misses / scuffs / slowdowns.” Talk about one root cause weekly.

Batch tiny fixes. Sweep, re-tape, replace a mirror, shift a bin—do them in a single 15-minute slot each Friday.

Thank the operator that logged it – and embed the right behaviors.

Fix 6 - End-of-Shift Reset (2 minutes)

A reliable reset keeps lanes clear and markings legible for the next crew - no extra budget required.

2-minute routine per zone per supervisor:

Clear the lanes. No pallets or totes encroaching on walk or drive lanes; push back 12-18" from tape.

Top off tapes. If a critical edge is peeling, replace a 3-5 ft segment - don’t wait for a full reline.

Wipe the mirrors. One quick pass on convex mirrors and driver windows at high-risk corners.

Reset the signs. Re-hang crooked signs; remove duplicates that cause noise.

In practice: A beverage facility assigned a rotating ‘lane captain’ each shift. Two minutes of Friday ‘best-practice’ cut Monday morning near-misses by 21%.

Fix 7 - When to Add Column Protection

Column protection isn’t a fix-all. It’s the right solution when risk is significant, contact is recurring or hesitation at posts is slowing flow - even after you’ve cleaned up pinch points and improved sightlines.

Use column protection when:

Near misses or hits repeat in the same zone. IE more than 1 in 30 days at a single post or column.

Posts sit in the sweep. Columns within 12 - 24" of turning paths, hypotenuse shortcuts, or staging squares. Consider ‘sweep’ from powered trucks, but also from hand carts exiting an aisle.

Near-misses create slowdowns. Drivers braking around a post to “thread the needle,” stacking up traffic.

Columns are located near ‘stopping point’. Stand-on powered vehicles and even hand-carts can ‘roll-on’ causing the potential for ‘crush-risk’.

In wider walkways where pedestrian attention rates can be poor. Column pads are a great way of preventing ‘human bumps’.

Visibility and culture ‘matter’. Some of the most forward-thinking US businesses protect all columns - in part, to visibly demonstrate their ‘safety first’ culture to all colleagues.

Learn more about Armbright Column Protection

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Fix 8 - Size Staging Squares and Keep Them Out of the Sweep

Staging areas that creep into turning paths create repeated scuffs and hesitation near posts and rack ends.

Match the footprint. Size squares to pallet dimensions plus 6-8" buffer so loads sit inside the lines.

Place for flow. Keep the outer edge of staging squares at least 18-24" outside the forklift turning sweep.

Label the use. “Inbound Only,” “QC Hold,” or “Outbound Today” reduces random drops in the wrong spot.

Audit weekly. If tape is chewed up at one edge, the square is in the sweep—shift it back.

Fix 9 - Pilot One-way/Merge for Tight Aisles (two weeks)

Short, time-boxed pilots help you test safer flow without big commitments.

Pick a loop. Choose a congested zone with frequent meeting traffic or blind merges.

Tape and arrows. Mark a one-way path with floor arrows; add a merge triangle where paths rejoin.

Set horn bars. Place stop bars at merge points with “Horn Here” decals.

Review after 2 weeks. Keep if near-misses drop and travel time improves; revert if it creates detours.

Fix 10 - Weekly 15-Minute Walk: Find Friction, Fix One Thing

A consistent, lightweight loop keeps small problems from becoming big repairs.

Start at the dock. Are staging squares keeping pallets out of the travel sweep?

Check two pinch points. Are mirrors clean and stop bars visible? Any clutter?

Pick one post. Any new scuffs? Is the banding clear at strike height?

Update the board. Log one near-miss and pick one fix for the next 48 hours.

In practice: A small team in Illinois kept a running “Top 3 Frictions” sticky note on the supervisor board. Solving one per week kept the list moving without overwhelming the crew.

In Summary

Keep it simple, visible, and repeatable. Make it obvious where people walk, where trucks go, and what needs protecting at strike and sightline heights. Start with one high-impact zone, pair one people control with one asset control, and measure for two weeks. If near-misses and slowdowns drop, lock it in and move to the next zone. Small weekly touch-ups and clear cues beat one-off projects.