Warehouse Audit Checklist: Steps & Criteria (2026)

A single warehouse will often have multiple tasks being completed at the same time: Some workers are at the docks receiving inventory; others are picking items from storage and fulfilling customer orders. Often, these tasks are interdependent, and if there’s a problem at one stage that causes errors or delays, it will ripple through the entire production process. Any major hiccups impact your brand’s reliability—something online shoppers won’t compromise on. You can’t afford not to take proactive steps to minimize failures in the warehouse..

Warehouse audits go through your facility with a fine-tooth comb. The goal is to address risky warehousing practices that could cause safety and production issues, and make sure the warehouse is operating as efficiently as possible. 

But audits feel overwhelming (“Where do we start?”), disruptive (“We can’t stop shipping”), and vague (“What exactly should be checked, and how often?”).

This guide shares a repeatable warehouse audit that improves inventory accuracy, safety compliance, and fulfillment throughput—without shutting down operations in the process.

What is a warehouse audit?

A warehouse audit is a structured inspection of inventory, equipment, layout, safety, and workflows. It’s typically performed by warehouse managers or operations and safety leads. The goal is to make the warehouse more efficient, safe, and accurate. Though checking inventory is part of the process, it’s much more than a basic inventory count.

Warehouse audits answer questions like:

• Do physical stock levels reality match system records?
• Are machines compliant with safety regulations? 
• Is the warehouse layout as efficient as it could be?
• Are there any safety risks that are a danger to workers? 
• Do established workflow designs diverge from actual floor reality?

A successful audit is about action, not just information. As a key part of the process, you’ll put tasks in place to address any gaps or issues you identify. For example if the audit uncovers that traffic through certain aisles is sometimes partially blocked, perhaps you’d use vertical shelving units to store any excess pallets that can block the aisles. 

The business case: Why audits matter

Audits prevent silent profit leaks and reduce risk through three main strategically targeted outcomes: shrink control, safety-risk reduction, and improved workflow performance.

Reducing shrinkage

Not every single product in your warehouse will make it into a customer’s hands and bring revenue to your retail business. Some items go AWOL because they’ve been put away wrong or picked incorrectly. The loss of inventory after manufacture or stocking and before reaching your point of sale is known as shrinkage.

Other reasons for shrinkage are less innocent, like employee theft or shoplifting. The latter is a safety concern: per NRF, retailers reported an 18% increase in average shoplifting incidents per year in 2024 versus 2023, and threats and acts of violence during these events increased 17% over the same period. 

Regardless of the reason, failing to spot inventory loss has a domino impact on every aspect of operations. It can cascade into overselling, back orders, refunds, and increased support volume.

Warehouse audits help catch phantom inventory by comparing what’s on your shelves with recorded inventory levels. They link inventory checks to specific risk points, including:

• Receiving inventory
• Put-away
• Cycle counts
• Returns quarantine
• Caged or high-value areas 
• Access controls 

High risk SKUs to check first

Not all losses affect your business equally. When auditing for shrinkage, prioritize the SKUs whose loss does the most damage to your bottom line, including:

• Tier-A items (based on ABC analysis)
• Hero/bestselling items
• Items that are frequently stolen (small size/high value)

💡Tip: Shopify makes it easier to track stock by combining inventory data into one unified commerce platform. A leading independent research firm found Shopify POS delivers an additional 5% GMV uplift on average, through integrated inventory management, improved productivity, and enhanced marketing effectiveness. 

Risk mitigation and safety

Warehouses are packed with equipment that can cause harm. The transportation and warehousing sector has the second-highest incidence rate: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recorded 930 fatalities in 2023. The fatal injury rate in the sector that year was 12.9 per 100,000 FTE workers.

Warehouse audits reduce the risk of injury and death by catching and fixing issues likely to cause harm. By reducing injuries, audits also reduce claims, downtime, and turnover that hurt the efficiency and profitability of your warehouse operation. 

Examples of risks that a warehouse safety audit reveals:

• Blocked fire doors 
• Cluttered aisles 
• Non-compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) 
• Worn rack anchors that could fall onto someone
• Misuse of machinery, such as powered industrial trucks
• Lack of training on how to operate equipment 
• Poor access to safety equipment, such as eyewash or spill kits 

💡Stop the line: Pause your audit to fix safety issues if they pose an immediate risk, such as blocked exits, missing eyewash stations for chemicals, and severe rack damage. These issues should be corrected immediately. 

Process optimization

Warehouse procedures are designed to make operations run smoothly. But standard operating procedures (SOPs) aren’t always followed to the T.

An audit highlights process drift—the often-slow but impactful accidental movement away from established SOPs. It usually happens when small, seemingly harmless deviations become the new “unofficial” standard because they feel faster in the moment. 

Every individual deviation might not seem important in itself, but as they accumulate and become normalized, you end up operating way off of your targeted standards. That’s why process drift needs to be caught before it gets out of hand. Audits can surface unauthorized shortcuts staff take and identify why they’re deviating from procedures in the first place, whether it’s due to:

• Training gaps
• Slotting or layout issues
• Resistance to new smart technology
• Problems with the actual process design 
• Friction with your warehouse management system (WMS)

Identify the likely cause for each symptom you find. This helps translate findings into operational changes—whether that’s relabeling locations, changing pick paths, updating SOPs, or retraining teams.

For example, pickers might start writing on boxes by hand instead of using a mobile printer. You talk with the team and learn they’re doing this because the mobile printers keep breaking, or the WMS labeling process takes too many clicks. It’s impacting accuracy because sometimes handwriting is illegible and misread, and hurting efficiency when team members have to ask for clarification on what’s in the box. 

This insight lets you identify a fix to the problem. Perhaps you create a designated station to swap broken printers with fully charged alternatives, or work with the vendor to customize the device’s interface and cut down the steps required to print a label. 

How to prepare: A pre-audit checklist

A warehouse audit is easier if it’s set up for you in advance. A reasonable amount of preparation can make the process more efficient, saving you time in the long run—you won’t have to hunt for documents or wait for machines to finish before you get started. 

To prepare yourself for a warehouse audit:

• Map the warehouse layout and production flow, with labelled zones. 
• Gather maintenance logs and machinery documentation. 
• Review incident reports—these tell you where to look for potential issues. 
• Gather red tags or stickers to place on equipment flagged for maintenance or repair.
• Review your WMS to identify a quiet time to schedule the audit (and similarly, peak times you should avoid). 
• Notify warehouse staff of the upcoming audit. 
• Pull results of the previous audit to see if planned changes were made.
• Prep the floor by clearing all paths, especially for high- traffic areas. 
• Wear your safety equipment: high-visibility vests, flashlights, protective boots, etc.

Pair this checklist with a simple 0–2 scoring rubric (bad/OK/good) to make audits measurable. Areas with a 0 score are given higher priority to fix—though of course areas that are most crucial for safety and overall operations will be given high priority with a score of 1.

If you’re auditing the safety of an automated conveyor system, for example, the rubric might look like this: 

A practical warehouse audit checklist

Here’s a practical, floor-ready warehouse auditing checklist that covers four pillars—inventory, equipment, layout, and safety. We’ll cover what to look for, what “good” looks like, and what to document throughout the audit. 

1. Inventory accuracy and storage

If what’s inside your warehouse doesn’t line up with what’s recorded in your inventory management system (IMS), store shelves go empty and your website sells items you don’t actually have.

To test this quickly, run a spot check. Pick 10 high-moving SKUs and five problem SKUs—perhaps those prone to shrinkage or with high return rates. Count how many units you have on the shelf, then scan the storage location with a handheld barcode scanner and compare the two figures. Record the variance and take a photo as evidence. 

When numbers don’t match, the type of error tells you where to look for the fix: 

What to check:

• Inventory levels match what’s recorded in your IMS
• Products are stored in the correct place
• Storage is labelled clearly and accurately 

What good looks like: Actual inventory levels match recorded amounts and products are stored in the correct place. 

What to document: Actual levels inside your IMS with photos of inventory discrepancies (e.g., SKUs in the wrong locations.)

Other things to look for in a warehouse inventory audit

There’s more to a warehouse inventory audit than just counting. It’s equally important to check all processes related to how inventory is identified, handled and stored. Here are other important factors to examine:

• Label integrity, scannability, and SKU clarity: Even if each item starts out in the right place, it might not stay that way if your team can’t easily and accurately identify items by their labels, barcodes, and other identifiers.
• Damage segregation: When items are damaged, are they properly labeled as such and stored separately from undamaged goods? Don’t risk incurring extra costs from sending your customers damaged goods by mistake.
• Quarantine discipline: If goods need to be kept apart from other inventory for safety and integrity reasons (e.g., food and products with reactive chemicals), ensure that employees understand and adhere to these rules.
• Receiving discipline: Are docks and other areas where you receive goods set up correctly according to established procedures for receiving goods? Are employees adhering to protocols to ensure the safety of themselves and your inventory?

💡Tip: The inventory portion of a warehouse audit is only as good as the data inside your IMS. Shopify simplifies this process by unifying data from every sales channel into one centralized system. You get one source of truth for inventory data—no custom coding or patchy middleware required.

2. Equipment and machinery

Warehouse staff need advanced training on any machinery they operate. But they might follow procedures and still be at risk. This section of your warehouse inspection checklist identifies those risks so you can reduce downtime and prevent safety issues. 

High-risk equipment failures include:

• Structural racks
• Forklift brakes or steering issues 
• Dock doors/levelers in poor condition
• Lack of charging/fueling station safety readiness

Every piece of equipment should have a daily documented inspection. Some of these are mandatory—OSHA for example, states that warehouse teams should fill in an inspection checklist for forklifts at least daily. 

Pair these daily checks with maintenance logs to show components have been recently serviced by a certified technician, and operator certificates to prove the people using a machine are licensed to operate it. If a piece of equipment has not been properly checked and verified safe, don’t use it.

Warehouse machinery audit summary

What to check:

• Look for wear and tear in all factory equipment, including vehicles and doors.
• Check rack integrity—look for damage, loose anchors, and bowing beams.
• Check for compliance with all safety standards.
• Review inspection logs to ensure inspections are occurring on schedule. 
• When machinery is operating, check for audible (grinding or squealing) and visual (leaks or excessive movement) red flags. 

What good looks like: Machines operate quietly and smoothly, and labels are current to show equipment meets testing standards. 

What to document: Photos to show usage (including any visual proof of damage), inspection logs, and compliance approval tags/stickers. Put these documents into an asset inventory management system for future reference.

3. Layout and organization

The faster you can pick items for fulfillment, the more orders you can fulfill within the same time frame. The layout of your warehouse has a huge impact on picking efficiency, as well as your ability to prevent collisions and congestion. 

As part of your warehouse design audit, answer questions like: 

• Is the warehouse clear and free from debris? 
• Are aisles/walkways actually usable during peak volume?
• Is there adequate lighting in all areas?
• Is there enough distance between approved inventory and staging lanes? 
• Are fast-moving SKUs located near packing stations?
• Are complementary SKUs situated near each other?
• Is signage for each zone clear and unobstructed? 
• Are pedestrian lanes properly delineated, and wide enough to prevent collisions with machinery? 
• Are recycling bins positioned near areas that generate the most waste? 

The “walk test” is a hands-on auditing technique that can help answer these questions. You’ll walk the same path that fast-moving SKUs take within your warehouse and experience the same friction that slows down your team. 

Here’s an example:

Warehouse layout audit summary

What to check:

• Condition of pathways: Are they clear or cluttered? 
• Storage location of fast-moving SKUs
• Adherence to warehouse layout plans 
• Signage for each picking zone 
• Space optimization

What good looks like: Aisles are clear, fast-moving SKUs are near picking stations, and signage is clear. 

What to document: Floorplans, photos of debris, and records of average travel times for a standard pick. 

4. Safety and compliance

Pressure to meet shipping windows often result in safety shortcuts that go unnoticed until an incident happens. OSHA cited warehouse and last-mile delivery employers for more than 2,500 workplace violations between 2018 and 2023.

Recurring audit failures that cause incidents or violations include:

• No posted load limits 
• Improper pallet stacking
• Missing safety features, such as safety pins or machinery kill switches
• Limited access to safety equipment: fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and exit doors
• No documented fire safety protocols 
• Poor pathway zones with obscured intersections 
• Patched or makeshift repairs to machinery—e.g., duct taping exposed wires 
• Lack of PPE usage (or limited access to it)
• Poor hazmat practices: no safety data sheets, limited spill kits, unclear labels, etc.

Posted policies and box-ticking exercises aren’t enough—check workers are actually following the safety guidance you have in place as part of your audit. Behavioral observations and stress-testing what staff would do in an emergency situation can highlight weak spots. 

💡Reminder: Pause your audit if you identify issues that pose an immediate risk to safety, and correct those issues immediately.

Warehouse safety audit summary

What to check:

• PPE usage 
• Structural stability 
• Adherence to traffic control rules
• Document checks: training logs and inspection tags
• Emergency readiness

What good looks like: Safety equipment is accessible, emergency exits are clear, and workers follow traffic control procedures. 

What to document: Photos of damage, health and safety training evidence, and inspection tags on serviceable safety equipment.

Operate a safer and more efficient warehouse with regular audits

Audits are not punitive; they’re an operational feedback loop that protects people and profit. A designated system shortlists what to look for (and where) without halting warehouse operations while you conduct the review.

But finding issues is one thing—warehouse audit summaries should also close any loops you discover. Share your findings with the warehousing team, and for any issues you find, assign corrective actions with a verification date to re-audit.