ProGMA Launches Checklist

MHI’s Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association has launched the ProGMA Checklist, a comprehensive guide to the myriad of protective guarding equipment that can be used in any warehouse, distribution center, and industrial facility.

Safety and facility managers across North America’s industrial sectors have welcomed the checklist that can be printed or viewed on a tablet. The checklist is designed to be used in a ‘walkthrough’ scenario, where a purchasing decision maker can view the protective guarding equipment already in place and identify where they may need more in future. It has already emerged as a tool for risk assessments.

Safety is always a key consideration in material handling facilities, and applications often change within the facility. When applications or operations change, it often means there is a change in need for protective guarding. The protective guarding checklist is an easy way to match need with the type of guarding and ProGMA member supplier.

As ProGMA repeatedly says, safety is an issue that every single facility has in common, and they all have some type of protective guarding. However, this equipment sector encompasses many different solutions, from safety gates for pallet drop areas to bollards that protect structures and netting that prevents items from falling off shelves. There are many more applications in between too.

The checklist follows the earlier release of ProGMA’s search tool, which also addresses the abundance of protective guarding solutions that are available in the market and supports end users looking for the right products for their varying facilities. Most industrial facilities use multiple pieces of protective guarding as employee safety is of utmost importance. The key is to identify the hazards and the solutions for those dangers, and then follow that with purchase and eventual installation.

The checklist and search tool dovetail in that they both identify protective guarding options and the ProGMA members that provide that type of equipment. The checklist can be used as one walks through a facility; the technology tool helps to also identify the guarding that is needed in a certain area, such as a rack system, or for a specific risk, like fall protection. Someone may use the checklist and then turn to the technology tool to find a manufacturer.

As a walkthrough is being conducted, it may be discovered that newly purchased automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are striking pallet racks on a regular basis, which can ultimately damage the rack structure. The checklist provides a list of guarding options that can be used to better secure the rack system. And, in line with using the search tool as a complement, they may then either click the link to kerbing / bumpers or use the search tool to find the ProGMA members that manufacture them.

The checklist features main headings, beneath which are subheads and sub product categories. All categories were largely taken from the protective guarding search tool and the types of guarding that ProGMA members offer. Membership decided to place the categories into more general areas within the facility to make it easy to determine, for example, all the areas in which bollards or safety gates could be used. The document ‘flows’ as someone would walk through and around the building; there is a lot of protective guarding that is required to protect structures and personnel outside.

Every product ProGMA members manufacture is somewhere on the list; each item links back to pictures of that piece of protective guarding and the list of members that offer that type of product. As the protective guarding industry evolves, so will the list. It may also be updated as new members join the ProGMA.

View the Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association ProGMA checklist here.

About ProGMA

The Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA) is an Industry Group of MHI. Members are the industry’s leading suppliers of fixed protective guarding products designed to protect personnel, equipment, and inventory in industrial facilities. Member companies meet regularly to review, discuss, and revise the standards for design and performance of protective guarding products used in the material handling industry. ProGMA member companies are committed to the development, maintenance, and publishing of industry standard specifications for these systems. Visit the website at mhi.org/progma.

About MHI

MHI is an international trade association that has represented the material handling, logistics and supply chain industry since 1945. MHI’s over 900 members include material handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers and third-party logistics providers. MHI offers education, networking and solution sourcing for their members, the members’ customers and the industry as a whole through programming and events. The association sponsors the ProMat and MODEX expos to showcase the products and services of its member companies and to educate manufacturing and supply chain professionals. The Warehouse Education Research Council (WERC) is a division of MHI and provides education and research to the warehouse, distribution and logistics community.