People who work in a warehouse know that a center of major activity is the loading dock. Forklifts are moving in and out of the area picking up products for storage and delivering orders to trucks.
Meanwhile, there is heavy pedestrian traffic milling about involved in the loading or unloading of trucks. Trucks are constantly pulling up to or leaving the dock. People are out walking among the trucks getting and passing on information to truck drivers.
(Courtesy: ktinboulder at flickr.com)
To make a long story short, the dock and the immediate area around it are locations where accidents are waiting to happen.
Common injuries to warehouse employees who work on the dock include fractured legs after being struck by dock plates or getting crushed between a truck and the dock; fractures of other body parts because the employee may have fallen off the dock; injuries occurring because employees accidently drive forklifts off the dock or products or equipment fall on employees.
In addition, employees are speeding through their work in order to meet quotas or other requirements and may be concentrating on the task at hand, but not at equipment that could be moving toward them or products that are about to fall on them.
All the problems that result in accidents can be reduced or even eliminated when there is attention to detail, a safe environment, and a few rules that govern activity.
Promoting Safety Outside and On the Dock
A number of things can be done in the area where trucks approach and depart the dock to ensure safety. For example, truck drivers can chock the wheels of their own trucks and the warehouse can install and use manual, electric or hydraulic truck restraints, and traffic lights to signal when truck drivers should stop, proceed with caution or go when it comes time for them to leave the warehouse. Pedestrians can also use this traffic light system to determine whether it is safe or not safe to walk outside the dock area. Moreover, warehouse workers who must walk the area where trucks congregate can wear reflective vests so that truck drivers pulling in or out of the dock area can notice them. Systems that control dock levelers, dock doors and dock locks from the inside can be used to eliminate some of the need for warehouse employees to be walking around the “drive approach” space.
Moreover, black and yellow safety striping, paint and masking tape can be used to designate where vehicles go.
A variety of accessories or extra equipment can be used to make the area on the dock safer. These include overhead doors, dock levelers, dock seals and canopies. For example, a fixed dock leveler provides a smooth surface on which a forklift driver can guide his truck on to and off of trailers. Seals help keep out the elements and prevent forklifts from sliding or losing traction.
Guardrails should be mounted along the edge of the dock to provide a physical barrier as well as a visual cue that prevents workers from falling off the dock.
The black and yellow safety striping, paint, or masking tape can also be used to mark where equipment is and provide routing guidelines for forklift drivers. These visual cues should be re-applied every one to two years to assure that the markings can be seen.
Promoting safety on and around the warehouse dock can be easy as long as there is attention to detail, a few rules that employees and truck drivers can follow, and a smart use of safety products that prevent accidents from happening.