On a recent visit to a global metalworks facility on the East Coast, our team discovered something that forgers and steel operations, which are known for a work environment dealing with extreme heat, have in common with cold storage and frozen operations. 

At first glance, you would assume that there is nothing these two environments have in common. After all, no one packs a bag the same way for a ski vacation and a beach vacation. And if challenged to identify a common solution between an ice cream storage facility and a rolled steel mill, we’d probably be hard-pressed to think of one. But there is a big one.

What they have in common is Gloves.

Wireless Goes Where the Hardhat Doesn’t

Construction jobs are inherently dangerous. The mixture of heavy machinery, deep holes, extreme heights, concrete, steel beams, chemicals, etc. is always going to create the potential for all types of injuries and even fatalities. In 2014 in the US alone, there were nearly 5,000 fatal occupational injuries, of which construction led with 17% of the total despite employing only 6% of the workforce in the evaluation. The most common worksite hazards for construction workers were workplace falls, electrocution, being struck by objects or being caught between two objects.

In case you missed the news, a vulnerability has been discovered in the wi-fi WPA2 encryption standard. (Some reports refer to it as KRACK – Key Reinstallation Attack.)

If you or anyone at your business uses a smartphone, laptop, or IoT device connected to a Wi-Fi network using WPA2 encryption, the information sent over that network could be at risk. Researchers have found a bug that lets attackers “break” WPA2 – the encryption that protects most wireless networks – leaving data you send exposed.

One of the biggest facets of warehouse management that has changed in the last 10-20 years is that takeover that digital technology has had. All of the important processes, notes, inventory, and communication takes place over a digital network, which has greatly improved many aspects of the modern day warehouse, including marked improvements in efficiency and work capacity.