Preventing Loading Dock Door Damage And Dock Drop - offs
Sophie Bureau
Two common problems at loading docks are damage to the loading dock door and dock drop - offs that involve an employee and / or a forklift. Both problems can feeble be prevented if the issues causing them are completely undeclared.
Loading dock door damage
Loading dock door damage typically results from either a staging or hauling operation or a seat where the loading dock door is hit. When the loading dock door is hit, the mechanism that opens and closes the dock door may be stricken, resulting in the inability to completely open the loading dock door. A door that is not fully open offers a potentially unsafe attribute owing to the door can drop on employees, freight, or loading equipment.
Loading dock door drop - offs
Statistics indicate1 that every day there are over 260 forklift truck accidents at loading docks. In gospel, every three days there is one unhealthy loading dock incident where a forklift drops - off of a loading dock. For each loading dock advent, there are approximately 600 near misses.
Many of these accidents can be serious. One loading dock door drop - off can impact a company’s reputation and its obligation to lend a safe work environment. The last thing a company wants to peruse about is a loading dock door drop - off that occurred in one of their facilities, especially if the milestone could have been prevented. Nor does any company want to be a statistic in U. S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ( OSHA ) Memento Fatality / Blow Report2. In addition, an investigation may follow to actuate if the company was in compliance with OSHA ' s applicable standards.
OSHA may cite the General Duty Clause, which requires, " Each manager shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a domicile of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to produce death or serious honest harm to his employees. "
Another standard that could be cited is 1910. 22 ( c ), " Covers and / or guardrails shall be provided to protect personnel from the hazards of open pits, tanks, vats, ditches, etc. "
Impact of loading dock door drop - offs and dock door damages on corporate profitability
Even a single loading dock door drop - off act can largely impact a company’s profitability. Not only is the company obliged for the costs of the person’s injuries, but significant costs, potentially thousands of dollars, may emanation from a suit. In addition, if a fatality is involved, or there are three or more employees as a upshot of a work - related incident the company must report it to OSHA within eight hours ( 29 CFR 1904. 39 ). This will most likely corollary in an OSHA inspection and investigation.
Profitability is also affected when the loading dock door is hit. Once impacted, the door cannot be opened or closed without further damage to the door mechanism, and sometimes the dock door cannot be opened or closed at all until it is repaired, countdown the company with one fewer loading dock in operation. Just to replace a stricken door panel costs between US$200 - US$600. This does not append the downtime created by lacking use of the door, the 2 - 3 hours of labor costs to authorize the new panel, or the cost of the repair person’s travel time.
There may be additional costs related to product replacement if the loading dock door is also used to:
• maintain proper refrigeration temperatures and keep the cold - chain from breaking during palletization, staging, loading and unloading of containers; or
• protect products from exposure to environmental contaminants near as microbes, dust, moisture and other it contamination, there may be supplementary costs related to product replacement.
The company may suffer fresh losses resulting from the loading dock door being fully or partially opened for an extended period of time until the repair can be made.
The solution
Today many safety - minded companies are using safety barriers in longitude of a single chain across the loading dock door. The use of a chain is an outdated practice that offers little, if any, protection against loading dock drop - off when conspicuous custom equipment is confused.
The newest technology in dock door protection is the use of a safety booby trap that provides a on ice visual warning and a safety scandal sheet. In postscript, an audible alarm is triggered when the safety bar is hit. This provides an more warning to the dock employee, allowing for convincing reaction time to reduce the risk of accidentally hitting the dock door. If the check is disfigured, it safely detaches upon impact and can succulent be reattached in just a few seconds. No smashing facility is imperative to reattach the booby trap. This product can also help prevent forklift drop - off at raised docks and pedestrians from animated off the butt end of the dock.
Below are supporting statements from several goodly distribution companies as to why they now choose to use loading dock door safety barriers in unfolding of their loading dock doors to prevent loading dock door damage and dock drop - off:
• Mario D’Amours, Vice - President Distribution, Colabor L. P., an unexpurgated food marketing and distribution network which warehouses food products until they are supplied to wholesalers: “On a regular origin, we change a lot of skids full of products, as well as forsaken skids, through our dock doors. We were looking for a solution where there would be a safe distance between the door and the truck and where we could also alert the field to any inherent safety point. Safety barriers are the perfect solution to support our company’s charge to safety. ”
• Serge Schoolboy, Director, Molson - Coors Impending Company: “Our direction is a little different. We have an interior loading dock and thence we don’t have loading dock doors. Nevertheless, to secure our loading operation we decided to dispense all of our interior loading docks with safety barriers. This has made our loading process significantly safer. ”
• Denis Trois, Logistics Director at Colabor L. P., a Canadian integral food marketing and distribution network operating in Quebec, Atlantic Canada and Ontario. Colabor warehouses food products that it supplies exclusively to wholesalers: “To solve our profitable loading dock door trouble, we installed safety barrier at each loading dock door. Since that time we have not had a single loading dock door advent. ”
Loading dock door safety barriers, from companies like GMR Safety, are now considered the best solution to help protect loading dock doors from being hit and mutilated and the best option to help reduce the need to replace overhead door bottom panels. They also care a safer environment at the loading dock and aid in preventing loading dock drop - off accidents. Dock door safety barriers help lift a company’s exigency to thing and injury prevention.
Concurrently, loading dock door safety barriers also:
• Restrict access to the MTZ ( material transfer belt ).
• Reduce employee and facility downtime.
• Reduce maintenance and repair budgets and for avoid loss of corporate profits.
About the Author
Sophie Bureau is the Marketing Executive at GMR Safety, Inc. in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada.
1 U. S. Lasers Inc., Hazlehurst, Georgia. “Three Causes of Truck Lift Accidents. ” Material Appropriateness Management. August 2008, 6 - 7.
2 United States. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “Weekly Reports of Fatalities, Catastrophes, and Other Events. ” 3 April 2010.
3 United States. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910. 23. 3 April 2010.
