Caster City Releases Peak Season Cart Safety Checklist as OSHA Extends Warehouse Emphasis Program to 2031

Caster City urges facility managers to inspect cart fleets and material handling equipment as federal warehouse inspections continue through 2031.

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, October 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Warehouses across the US are entering the busiest weeks of the year with leaner teams, heavier throughput and a federal safety program that has recently been renewed. OSHA’s revised National Emphasis Program on Warehousing and Distribution Center Operations took effect on July 31, 2026, and will stay in place until July 31, 2031.

Warehousing remains one of the most injury-prone sectors in the country. General warehousing recorded a recordable case rate of 5.2 between 2020 and 2024, while the all-industry average stood at 2.6. During the first 18 months of OSHA’s previous warehouse program, inspectors identified more than 1,700 violations and removed around 37,410 workers from hazardous conditions.

The workforce has grown quickly too. Employment in warehousing and storage more than doubled in the ten years to December 2025, yet peak season hiring is shrinking. Last year, the National Retail Federation forecast between 265,000 and 365,000 seasonal retail hires, down from 442,000 in 2024 and the lowest level in 15 years. Fewer people moving the same volume means every cart, dolly and mobile rack works longer shifts.

What the New Program Means on the Warehouse Floor
The revised program focuses on hazards including powered industrial trucks, material handling and storage, walking-working surfaces, ergonomics and heat. Mandatory ergonomics screening has been removed, but compliance officers can still examine hazards. Inspections are comprehensive, and inspectors review injury logs for the current year and the previous three. That puts everyday material handling equipment under closer scrutiny.

Caster City, a Las Vegas supplier of industrial casters and wheels since 1977, is encouraging warehouse operators to treat the weeks before peak season as an inspection window for the equipment their teams push every day.

“Peak season is when cart problems get ignored, because nobody has time to take a cart out of service,” says Torrey Stephenson, President and Sales Manager at Caster City. “But that is exactly when the strain adds up across a team. A fleet check in October takes a few hours. Dealing with a strain injury or an inspection finding in December takes a lot longer.”

How Warehouses Are Preparing
Many operators are using the weeks before peak season to audit their cart fleets:
1. Review injury records first: OSHA compliance officers review injury and illness records for the current year and the previous three years, and use them to decide whether to expand an inspection. Strain injuries linked to pushing or pulling carts are worth investigating before an inspector asks about them.
2. Walk the cart fleet: Look for wheels with flat spots, chunked treads or debris wrapped around the axle, and swivels that bind or wobble. These all increase the effort needed to push and steer a loaded cart.
3. Match wheels to floors and loads: Carts are often repurposed over time. A wheel suited to a light load on smooth concrete may not suit heavier loads, dock plates or cold storage.
4. Check brakes on anything staged in place: Carts and mobile racks left at docks, ramps or pick stations should hold position. Total locking brakes lock both the wheel and the swivel.
5. Stock spares before the rush: Replacing a failed caster in December is harder when parts are backordered and every cart is in use.
Caster City keeps a large inventory of plate casters, stem casters, wheels and replacement parts across its US warehouses, with most orders shipping within 24 to 48 hours. Its sales team also helps customers identify replacement casters for existing equipment.

About Caster City
Caster City has supplied industrial casters and wheels since 1977. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company serves aerospace, food manufacturing, pharmaceutical, laboratory, energy and warehouse operations with light-duty to heavy-duty casters, stainless steel and total locking models, and specialty wheels.

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Torrey Stephenson
Caster City
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