A warehouse safety audit is an on-site inspection of your warehouse or distribution centre, checking the physical conditions, equipment, storage systems, and documentation against the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and relevant New Zealand standards. Warehouses have a specific set of risks — forklifts, racking, manual handling, loading docks, hazardous substances — that a general office audit does not cover. A warehouse audit is built around those risks.
If you run or manage a warehouse in Auckland and your site has not been independently audited in the last 12 months, the question is not whether there are issues. There are. The question is whether you find them before a WorkSafe inspector, a client audit, or an incident does.
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Why Warehouses Need Their Own Audit
A warehouse is not an office. The risks are physical, immediate, and often high-consequence. Forklifts share space with pedestrians. Heavy goods sit on racking systems that may not have been inspected since installation. Workers lift, carry, and stack all day. Loading docks create pinch points between vehicles and people.
Under HSWA 2015, the PCBU who operates the warehouse has the primary duty of care for everyone in it: employees, contractors, visitors, and delivery drivers. A warehouse audit checks whether the controls you have in place actually match the risks on the ground.
What a Warehouse Safety Audit Covers
Racking and storage
- Pallet racking condition: damage, overloading, missing safety clips, leaning frames
- Load ratings: are they posted and being followed?
- Stacking practices: are goods stacked safely and within height limits?
- Storage of hazardous substances: correct segregation, labelling, and secondary containment
Traffic management
- Forklift and pedestrian separation: marked zones, barriers, mirrors at blind corners
- Speed limits and signage
- Loading dock procedures: vehicle restraint, chocking, exclusion zones during loading
- Delivery vehicle movements and visitor management
Manual handling and ergonomics
- Lifting practices: are mechanical aids available and used?
- Repetitive tasks: picking, packing, palletising
- Workstation setup for packing areas
Equipment and plant
- Forklift pre-start checks: are they being done and recorded?
- Operator licences: are all operators trained and licenced?
- Maintenance records for forklifts, pallet jacks, conveyors, and other plant
- Guarding on machinery
General site conditions
- Housekeeping: clear aisles, no trip hazards, spills managed
- Lighting: adequate for the tasks being performed
- Ventilation: especially in enclosed areas or where vehicles run
- Fire safety: extinguishers, alarms, evacuation routes, assembly points
- First aid: kit stocked, accessible, trained first aider available
- Electrical safety: leads, RCDs, switchboard access
Documentation
- Health and safety policy
- Hazard register and risk assessments specific to warehouse operations
- Training records and forklift licences
- Incident and near-miss reports
- Emergency plan
- Contractor induction records
Common Issues Found in Warehouse Audits
After auditing warehouses across Auckland, the most common findings are:
- Damaged racking with no repair or replacement plan. A bent upright or missing safety clip is easy to ignore until a loaded rack fails.
- No forklift and pedestrian separation. Marked walkways exist on paper but are not enforced or are blocked by pallets.
- Pre-start checks not being done. Forklift operators skip the daily check, or it is done but not recorded.
- Hazard register out of date. Lists risks for a warehouse layout that changed two years ago.
- No loading dock procedure. Vehicles are loaded and unloaded without restraint, chocking, or exclusion zones.
- Expired training records. Forklift licences or first aid certificates have lapsed without renewal.
None of these are unusual. Most warehouses have at least two or three of them. The audit catches them and gives you a prioritised plan to fix them.
When to Get a Warehouse Audit
- Your warehouse has not been independently audited in the last 12 months
- You have had an incident, near miss, or WorkSafe contact
- A client or principal is asking for audit evidence
- You have changed your layout, racking, or equipment
- You are preparing for SiteWise or Tōtika prequalification
- You have taken on new staff or new contractors working in the warehouse
Get your warehouse checked
We audit warehouses across Auckland. On-site inspection, documentation review, report within 24 hours, from $450 + GST. More about our site audit service →
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Frequently Asked Questions
At least annually. You should also audit after any significant change: new racking, new layout, new equipment, new staff, or after an incident. High-traffic warehouses with forklifts and heavy goods may benefit from six-monthly audits.
Our Workplace Site Audit starts from $450 + GST with a report delivered within 24 hours. The fee depends on the size of the warehouse. We confirm a quote after understanding what is involved.
We check the condition, loading, and labelling of your racking as part of the audit. If you need a formal racking inspection against AS 4084 or NZ-specific standards, that is a specialist engineering assessment — we can advise on whether one is needed based on what we find during the audit.
The process is the same — on-site inspection plus documentation review. The difference is what we focus on. Warehouses have specific risks around racking, forklifts, manual handling, loading docks, and hazardous substance storage that a general office or retail audit would not cover in the same depth.
A written report covering everything inspected, the findings, and a prioritised action plan. The report is delivered within 24 hours and written in plain language so you can act on it directly.
Sources
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, section 36: primary duty of care for PCBUs. legislation.govt.nz
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016: risk management and workplace facility requirements. legislation.govt.nz
- WorkSafe New Zealand, forklifts guidance: managing forklift risks in the workplace. worksafe.govt.nz