A shift from manual labor to automation has created new potential hazards for workers in New Jersey warehouses. For instance, interactions between autonomous forklifts and human floor workers could result in a serious injury. The injury rate for warehouse employees is 5.1 per 100 full-time workers, and the number of warehouse deaths doubled between 2015 and 2017. Therefore, warehouse managers and owners should create safety plans that take into account as many hazards as possible.

It is also important for companies to learn as much as they can from incidents that don’t result in injuries or death. This is because those incidents may provide clues as to the dangers a worker may face, and this insight can then be used to ensure that a similar accident doesn’t happen again.

Ideally, companies will create workplace cultures that prioritize both efficiency and safety. Doing so might reduce the chances that managers choose to ignore safety concerns to meet production goals. It is also important to test changes to a logistics system before rolling them out throughout the organization. A test run can tell a company more about any safety or compliance issues that it may encounter by eliminating staff or other resources.

An employee who gets hurt while performing services for an employer may be able to get workers’ compensation benefits. These benefits could help pay for surgical procedures, physical therapy and other recovery needs. Individuals who are unable to return to work may receive benefits indefinitely. An attorney could help a worker learn more about his or her rights and how to preserve them after experiencing an injury on the job.