The 7 Highest Risk Zones in Your Warehouse
Knowing what protection is needed in your warehouse and where you can actually implement safety systems are two different things. If you have read our previous article on impact protection systems, you already know why physical protection matters in any warehouse or industrial facility.
This article focuses on the seven locations that cause the most serious incidents in Irish and UK facilities, why each one is dangerous, and what the right protection looks like in practice.
When it Comes to Safety and Risk, Location Matters
A regular mistake in impact protection planning is treating it as a general purchase rather than including it in a targeted safety strategy. Facilities that order a set of barriers and place them based on gut instinct, rather than a proper assessment of how their operation actually moves, often find that the areas that get hit are not the areas they protected.
The HSA has explicitly targeted the segregation of vehicles and pedestrians as a primary inspection focus under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. That means when an inspector visits your facility, they are checking whether you have the right barriers, in the right places, doing the right job.
The seven zones included below are common areas where we consistently identify unprotected risks during site assessments.
Racking Ends
Racking ends are one of the most frequently impacted points in warehouses across industries. When a forklift completes a run down an aisle and turns, it does so on a tight radius, often at speed or with a load that reduces forward visibility. An unprotected racking upright at the end of an aisle has no chance.
A strike to a racking upright can compromise the structural integrity of the entire bay. Depending on the load being carried at the time, an entire racking section may need to be evacuated, inspected, and potentially decommissioned before operations can resume.
Guardrails and barrier systems are designed to absorb and deflect the impact before it reaches the upright and are the perfect solution to prevent accidents or hits on racking ends. Polybar's P-FLEX barrier rail is specifically rated for this application and returns to position after impact without requiring replacement.
Loading Bays and Dock Areas
Loading bays are among the highest-risk areas in any facility. They combine heavy inbound and outbound vehicle traffic, restricted space, reversing forklifts, external HGV movements and the constant pressure of time-sensitive operations.
As forklifts load a trailer, momentum can cause the vehicle to inch away from the dock, creating a dangerous gap that can tip a forklift, which can cause serious injury and damage to products and machinery.
Loading bays are where internal pedestrian traffic most frequently intersects with active vehicle operations, making segregation at the dock approach and around bay doors critical.
Impact-rated barriers should be installed at bay entries, column protectors on structural elements within the bay, and clearly defined pedestrian routes that keep foot traffic away from active loading zones.
Doorways and Pedestrian Entry Points
Pedestrian entry points, such as doorways into a warehouse, are identified as transition points and have different safety factors that must be included during a safety assessment.
As an example, a forklift approaching from one side has no visibility of a pedestrian approaching from the other. A worker stepping through a door into an active vehicle route has no warning that a forklift is coming. This is one of the most consistent causes of serious pedestrian injury in industrial environments.
High pedestrian zones should include slow speed zones that are clearly displayed and visible to forklift drivers. Slow zones will help to increase safety near pedestrian zones, crossings, doorways and intersections, but in a busy facility operating under time pressure, speed reduction relies on consistent driver behaviour.
The right protection for doorways includes Goalpost systems at high-traffic doorways that protect both the door frame and the people using it. Combined with physical pedestrian barriers and rails that channel foot traffic away from vehicle routes, doorways can be made significantly safer without disrupting operational flow.
Structural Columns
A structural column is not designed to absorb repeated forklift impacts. Over time, repeated impacts to an unprotected column can create structural damage that affects the building far beyond the point of contact, and that often requires specialist assessment before the area can safely return to use.
In facilities that handle repeated column strikes and repair them without addressing the root cause, the cost compounds quickly and can cause additional underlying building defects. At Polybar, we consistently find column damage in facilities with no protection. This can be a reliable indicator of broader traffic management issues throughout the site.
Our P-FLEX column protection is the perfect solution for this issue as it wraps the column at impact height, absorbing and deflecting forklift contact without transferring force to the structural element beneath.
Aisle Junctions and Blind Corners
Wherever two vehicle routes meet, or a vehicle route meets a pedestrian route without an adequate sightline, there is a collision waiting to happen. Line of sight is critical for forklift and pedestrian safety, so it is important that you are provided the correct safety solution at the right junctions.
Blind corners can cause hazards as the risk is invisible until the moment it happens. Both the driver and the pedestrian may be doing exactly what they are supposed to do and still end up in the same place at the same time.
Introducing physical barriers at junctions aids in lowering potential risk at blind corners.
Additionally, Polybar's AI Forklift Camera Systems also addresses this risk directly, detecting pedestrians at blind corners and alerting the driver before they turn.
Pedestrian Walkways and Crossing Points
Continuous re-evaluation of pedestrian segregation effectiveness is a strict legal requirement under current HSA guidance, and floor markings alone are no longer considered adequate by inspectors. Yellow paint on the floor is increasingly deemed insufficient, and rigid physical separation is required.
Pedestrian walkways that rely solely on painted lines provide no barrier between pedestrians and forklifts. In a facility where vehicles regularly cross painted lines, the walkway provides a false sense of security rather than actual protection.
A strong pedestrian segregation strategy should consider natural movement patterns, including the routes people prefer to take, because when safe routes match how people actually move, compliance becomes much easier.
The right protection for walkways and crossing points should include Impact-rated pedestrian guardrails that create a physical boundary between walkways and vehicle routes. Polybar's guardrail systems are designed to absorb vehicle contact without permanent deformation, maintaining the integrity of the segregated zone.
Production Equipment and Machinery
In manufacturing and production environments, forklifts frequently operate in close proximity to high-value equipment, production lines and fixed machinery. A single impact from a forklift can cause damage that halts an entire production run, requires specialist repair and results in significant unplanned downtime.
Unlike racking or columns, production equipment often cannot simply be moved away from vehicle routes. The protection has to come to the equipment.
The right protection for this equipment includes targeted bollards and barrier systems positioned around equipment perimeters, designed to intercept a vehicle before it makes contact with the machinery itself. These are sized and positioned based on the specific vehicle types operating in the area and the clearance available in the surrounding space.
How Do We Improve Our Warehouse Safety?
The seven zones above are consistent across facility types and industries. But the specific risk profile of your facility is unique to how your operation runs. This will include which zones are most exposed, which vehicle routes create the most conflict and which areas carry the highest consequence if an incident occurs.
That is why at Polybar, our process starts with a structured on-site assessment rather than a product catalogue. Our team maps your facility's traffic flows, identifies your highest-risk zones and produces a clear, prioritised set of recommendations before anything is installed.
Getting the right protection in the right places is the only version of impact protection that works.
If you want to review your safety, but don't know where to start, Book a Safety and Segregation Survey with Polybar today.
Common Safety Questions You May Have
What are the most dangerous areas in a warehouse for forklift accidents?
The highest-risk areas are racking ends, loading bays, doorways, structural columns, aisle junctions, pedestrian walkways and areas around production equipment.
Is floor marking enough to keep pedestrians safe in a warehouse?
We both know it's not. Under current HSA guidance, floor markings and painted lines alone are no longer considered adequate pedestrian segregation. Inspectors increasingly expect physical barriers that create a genuine boundary between pedestrian and vehicle zones.
How do I know which areas of my facility need impact protection?
The most reliable way is a structured on-site safety assessment with Polybar Group. A professional assessment maps your vehicle traffic routes, identifies conflict points between pedestrians and forklifts, and produces a prioritised list of the areas that need protection and what type of system is appropriate for each.
What is the legal requirement for pedestrian and vehicle segregation in Ireland?
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the HSA's 2025 Code of Practice for Safe Use of Industrial Trucks, employers are legally required to assess and manage workplace transport risks, including the physical separation of pedestrians from vehicle routes wherever reasonably practicable. The HSA has identified pedestrian segregation as a primary inspection focus, and failure to demonstrate adequate controls can result in enforcement action following an incident.
Why do the same areas keep getting damaged in my warehouse?
Repeated damage in the same locations is a reliable sign that those areas are not adequately protected. High-impact zones like racking ends, loading bays and doorways absorb repeated collisions because the risk conditions that caused the first impact have not changed.
Can impact protection be installed without disrupting operations?
Yes. Most Polybar installations are planned around the operational schedule of the facility and phased to minimise disruption. Polymer systems are fixed to the floor with minimal installation time and no major structural modification. In most cases, protection can be installed section by section, keeping the majority of the facility fully operational throughout the process.
What is the HSA's 2025 Code of Practice for Safe Use of Industrial Trucks?
The HSA's 2025 Code of Practice replaced the previous 2001 guidance and sets higher standards for operator training, vehicle maintenance and pedestrian segregation in Irish workplaces. It provides detailed requirements for how forklifts should be operated, maintained and managed within a facility, including specific guidance on the physical separation of pedestrians from vehicle routes. Any facility operating forklifts in Ireland should review its current setup against the 2025 Code.
How does an AI Forklift Camera System complement physical protection?
Physical barriers define where vehicles and pedestrians should be. The Polybar AI Forklift Camera System addresses the dynamic risk that exists within those zones during live operations, detecting pedestrians in blind spots, at aisle junctions and in areas where a driver's sightline is limited, and alerting the driver in real time. Together, physical protection and AI detection provide a more complete level of safety coverage than either system delivers on its own.
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