Social Distancing: Protecting Your 3PL Warehouse & Workforce

Protect your workforce: mitigate against COVID-19 transmission risk with In-DEX Warehouse Management Software

Peter Flanagan, Founder & Managing Director, Principal Logistics Tehnologies

Warehouse operatives cannot work from home and while most continued to work throughout the COVID-19 lockdown many more will be re-entering the economy in the coming days and weeks.

Everyone needs to assess and manage the risks of COVID-19. Employers have a legal responsibility to protect workers and others from risk to their health and safety. This means you need to think about the risks of staff and operatives and do everything reasonably practicable to minimise them, recognising that you cannot completely eliminate the risk of COVID-19.
 
 
In-DEX WMS Warehouse Management Software is used to manage operational requirements in many large and small warehouses, 3PL Third-party Logistics providers, Distribution and Manufacturing operations. Our customers include Morrisons plc, Dale Farm and Agro Merchants.
 

In-DEX WMS can support your
warehouse social distancing rules now!

Functionality currently existing in In-DEX WMS can be deployed to help warehouse operators mitigate against the risk of COVID-19 transmission across the workforce:
 
 

1. Planning for the minimum number of people needed to operate safely and effectively onsite

 
Protecting staff to enable safe working in your warehouse is one of the first tasks to be addressed.

In-DEX WMS uses real-time data capture using barcode scanning, voice and RFID tags. As such, it has a live picture of all stock movement rates, all tracked to individual user logins. The technology also captures all planned tasks in a work pool. Its ‘what if’ scenario planning function can be used to review operational patterns and add activities that may not be in the work pool. And a live dashboard calculates the required task completion times facilitating planning for the correct staff numbers.
 

2. Restructuring, splitting teams/shifts and zoning

 
The following should be considered where practicable to do so:

• Revising staff rosters and splitting of teams to ensure separation of critical personnel in order to limit joint exposure and protect the business.
• Avoiding switching of employees from one shift to another.
• Implementing an ‘air gap’ or delayed shift changeover to accommodate full cleaning/disinfection of all shared equipment, and reducing unnecessary interactions between different shift personnel.
• Minimising the sharing of equipment and/or tools.
• Dividing work areas into smaller zones with personnel allocated to work within each zone. Movement between zones should be minimised and controlled at all times. As an example, orders to be picked can be split into these zones.

In-DEX WMS Resource Manager Screenshot (click for detail)

In-DEX WMS Task and Resource Management functionality assigns operatives into pools. These pools can then be allocated to shifts, zones, and tasks. This facilitates easy planning around keeping staffing and operatives split into teams and teams into Zones.
 
 
 
 

3. Implement monitoring adherence

 
 
Routinely check that social distancing and sanitisation measures are being adhered to. Act quickly to highlight and address any deviation from the standards.

In-DEX WMS has functionality that some customers currently use for quality questions (e.g.: BRC – British Retail Consortium) and for safety checks following commencement or shift completion. These can display on the handheld terminals or voice devices.

These user-definable questions can be set to mandatory in which case the user is forced to respond triggering an alert message like “please contact a supervisor”, etc.

We can reuse these to ask operators and staff questions, for example:

• ‘Have you had exposure to anyone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days?’ (Yes/No)
• ‘Do you have a cough?’ (Yes/No)
• ‘Do you have difficulty in breathing?’ (Yes/No)
• ‘Do you have a temperature?’ (Yes/No)

As with existing quality questions, we maintain a complete audit trail and a reporting function.
 

4. Digitalised workflow

 
Like the functionality above, we can implement a digitalised workflow to assist with changes to work practices around COVID-19. For example:

• ‘Have you fully cleaned/disinfected all shared equipment?’ (Yes/No)
• ‘Have you disinfected the keypad?’ (Yes/No)

5. Equipment tracking & audit log, and usage report

 
Minimising sharing of equipment and/or tools.

In-DEX WMS enables users to scan handheld units, mobile label printers, voice units, forklifts, pallet trucks, logging their usage to a user ID.

Similar to contract tracing, it is important to be able to manage and record usage and indeed allocate it to teams in order to minimise the sharing of kit, and in the event of an outbreak know who and when the equipment was used.
 

6. Perpetual inventory counting & hand washing

 
It is important to follow good practices for hand washing which include using soap and water and washing for over 20 seconds. Regular hand washing with soap and water is reported to be effective for the removal of COVID-19. Between washing use of hand sanitisers (>60% alcohol based) is recommended.

Using the standard perpetual functionality where after “X” visits to the pick face In-DEX WMS can force pickers to count the balance in the pick face. This then forces operatives, after “X” minutes or “Y” actions or activities, to visit a hand wash or hand sanitiser station.

With In-DEX we simply barcode these locations (adding check digits for voice, the technology produces such labels) and we have a full audit trail down to each operative, date and time stamped.
 

7. Social distancing

 
Social distancing, or physical distancing, measures should be implemented across all business types.
Staff and operators must keep a distance of 2 metres (6.5 feet) between each other.

In-DEX WMS has existing functionality that some of our customers currently use for minimising congestion within zones, aisles and locations and for managing allergens etc. (some operatives are allergic to certain products and the technology can assign work to isolate such users away from specific products). This functionality can also be applied to social distancing.

Firstly, we separate the warehouse into different zones. (Only users assigned to those zones will get assignments in that zone.). We can also reduce it down to the aisle within a zone and even to specified locations. So basically, In-DEX WMS can keep workers separated from each other by using its Task Control functionality to isolate a worker to a specific part of the warehouse

As COVID-19 is asymptomatic for several days, In-DEX WMS automatically maintains a complete audit trail of who was where, when, and who with.
 

8. Visitor restriction

 
A restriction on visitors to a site should be implemented. However, where business-critical visitors are required to attend a site, a controlled access process should exist including adherence to sanitisation processes and full personal contact details (e.g.: a telephone number and last place visited should be collected to assist with contact tracing).
 
In-DEX WMS Load Bay Scheduler functionality is ideal for this purpose. Staff can review workloads and visually see and approve collection and delivery slots on a shared visual calendar to restrict/stagger such events across the day and night.

Hauliers are confirmed onto site. In-DEX WMS records the haulier’s name, with all contact details are taken and held.

A full audit trail of booked time, actual arrival time on-site, time on loading bay and time off-site is recorded to assist with contact tracing.
 

9. Health and safety

 
To ensure the health and safety of all people interacting with locations, visitors and contractors should complete a declaration form prior to entering a site. If anyone indicates they have symptoms of COVID-19 OR has been abroad in the last 14 days they should perhaps be prohibited from entering the site and advised to seek professional/medical help or assistance.
 
 
We can set questions digitally, for example:

1. ‘Have you been abroad in the last 14 days?’ (Yes/No)
2. ‘Are you suffering any flu like symptoms/symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19?’ (Yes/No)
3. ‘Are you experiencing any difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath?’ (Yes/No)
4. ‘Are you experiencing any fever like/temperature symptoms?’ (Yes/No)
5. ‘Did you consult a Doctor or other medical practitioner?’ (Yes/No)
6. ‘How are you feeling health wise?’ (Well/Unwell)
7. ‘Have you been in contact with someone who has visited an affected region in the past 14 days?’ (Yes/No)

The visitor can digitally sign their name using a digital sign-on tablet.
 

Article: How long coronavirus lives on surfaces (Business Insider)

10. Minimise the spread of Coronavirus on paperwork

 
Current evidence suggests that novel coronavirus may remain viable for hours or days on multiple surface types. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in community settings.

Doing this via paperwork can be challenging. The integrated In-DEX WMS Document Imaging and Scanning module ensures that any system generated documents are sent in pdf format and automatically emailed to consignees and the like. Any documentation, not generated by In-DEX WMS can be removed at the first point of contact, by scanning it at, say, a gatehouse, placing the original copies in a bankers box and holding the scanned image against the relevant transaction within In-DEX WMS.
 

Managing Director, Peter Flanagan founded Principal Logistics Technologies in 1992 and developed what became In-DEX WMS.

ASK US HOW In-DEX WMS Warehouse Management technology can support your 3PL Logistics or Supply Chain warehouse COVID-19 social distancing requirements today.
 
 

• Whitepaper: A Complete Guide to Warehouse Social Distancing (Davies & Robson)
• Working safely during COVID-19 in factories, plants and warehouses, guidance for employers, employees and the self-employed (HM Government)