Northgate Distribution Centre: Warehouse Floor Guide

About this guide

This guide is given to all new warehouse operatives during their first morning at Northgate Distribution Centre. It describes the layout of the warehouse floor and explains where you should and should not go. Please keep it with you for your first two weeks. Your team leader will also give you a guided walk round the building, but many new starters find it helpful to read the guide again after the tour.

Coming in

All staff and visitors use the pedestrian entrance in the middle of the south wall, which leads directly into Reception. You must sign in here and collect a high-visibility vest before going any further. To your left as you stand in Reception, in the south-west corner of the building, is the medical room, where the trained first-aiders on each shift can be found. To your right, in the south-east corner, is the staff canteen, which serves hot food from 6 am until 10 pm and has lockers for personal belongings.

Where orders are prepared

Most new operatives begin work in the pick aisles, which fill the eastern two-thirds of the building directly behind Reception and the canteen. Pickers collect goods from the shelves using hand-held scanners and take them west to the packing benches, which run along the west wall, immediately north of the medical room. Here items are checked, wrapped and labelled before being sent for loading. Pedestrian walkways are marked in green, and you must stay inside them at all times.

Larger stock

Pallets of slow-moving and heavy goods are kept in bulk storage, a high-racked area north of the pick aisles which takes up most of the width of the building. Only trained forklift drivers may enter bulk storage. Forklifts are recharged overnight in the charging bay, which lies along the east wall, between bulk storage and the eastern end of the pick aisles. Because of the risk from battery acid, eye-wash stations are fitted at the door of this room.

Loading and returns

The loading docks run along most of the north wall, where lorries reverse up to the building. No pedestrian may stand on a dock while a vehicle is moving. In the north-east corner, beside the last dock, is the returns area, where goods sent back by customers are inspected before being restocked or thrown away. Returns staff work separate hours and should not be asked to help with outgoing orders.

Rules for everyone

Mobile phones may only be used in Reception and the canteen. Report any damaged racking to your team leader immediately, even if the damage looks minor. In an emergency, leave by the nearest marked fire exit and go to the assembly point in the front car park.