Buoyed by a rise in online shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK warehousing sector has reported record take-up levels in Q2 with 13.3 million square feet of space driven by e-commerce and food retailers. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing shoppers to head online to make purchases, Midland Pallet Trucks, a provider of high-quality lifting equipment for the warehousing industry including pallet trucks, manual stacker trucks and lift tables, predicts that this reliance on online shopping is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
With the appetite for online shopping showing no sign of reducing as the UK slowly begins to ease lockdown restrictions, the warehousing industry is enjoying a period of prosperity with good quality warehousing space in high demand all over the UK.
However, this demand for warehousing space also requires experienced warehousing staff and high-quality lifting equipment to ensure productivity and to safeguard staff against the risk of injuries associated with lifting consignments and packages.
Warehousing managers expressed concern to the government last year as the number of skilled workers available to fulfil this spike falls well below the growing demand, with many trade bodies stating that injuries and accidents may increase if new staff are not provided with adequate training and equipment.
With HSE statistics showing no slowdown of work-related accidents and injuries caused by lifting and falls from height over the previous 12 months, there is a concern that those new to the industry will be put at even higher risk of injury due to increased time pressures and busier spaces.
Midland Pallet Trucks has a wide range of high-quality lifting products to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all staff as the demand for warehousing space continues to increase.
Phil Chesworth, managing director of Midland Pallet Trucks said: “Predictions that a further pipeline of over £1.5 billion lies ahead for Q3 shows just how important the warehousing sector is set to become over the next few months. Many shoppers and big name retailers are relying on the warehousing sector to keep productivity at record highs more now than ever before.”
