Loading dock safety starts with a well-trained team. All the safety procedures and equipment in the world won't do you any good if your team isn't trained to use them. Likewise, training isn't a one-and-done evolution. Your team needs refresher training annually to ensure safety standards remain high. That may feel like a waste of valuable time, but consider that each workplace accident costs the employer $42,000 on average. A couple hours spent in training each year are cheap by comparison.
Loading dock safety training is paramount. Dock workers must train to recognize and avoid hazardous situations on the dock, such as trailer creep or early departures. Additionally, workers should receive training in safe lifting techniques and safe handling of controlled/hazardous materials.
In addition to general safety training, every dock worker must receive training for each piece of equipment they will operate. This includes both motorized and non-motorized equipment, such as forklifts and pallet jacks. Workers must also learn to use and maintain dock safety equipment such as dock levelers, wheel chocks, and weather seals.
Poorly secured trailers cause many significant loading dock hazards, like trailer creep. Don't let these serious issues cause accidents at your loading dock. Use the following equipment to ensure your trailers are properly secured throughout loading and unloading procedures.
OSHA requires that trailers be secured to the loading dock during all loading and unloading operations. Dock chocks are an essential redundancy, but loading dock locks should be your first line of defense. Loading dock locks secure the trailer’s rear impact guard to the dock, ensuring the trailer cannot creep during loading and unloading.
Don’t trust spotted trailers to their landing gear alone. Your loading dock team has little to no control over the structural integrity of trailer landing gear and thus should not trust their safety to these supports. Instead, secure spotted trailers with trailer stands to prevent weight distribution accidents such as trailer up-ending.
Dock bumpers are an important part of dock protection as they protect your building and the trailer from collision damage. However, they also create a gap between the trailer bed and the loading dock floor. Dock levelers are the best way to bridge that gap, ensuring neither forklifts nor dock workers risk a fall.
During each loading and unloading cycle, your dock is at risk for damage caused by collisions, debris, or misused equipment. Inspect the following areas for damage every day and before unloading a trailer.
Dock door safety starts with a thorough inspection. Check your dock doors for track alignment and door balance, as these issues can interfere with the door's operations. Additionally, check door rollers and panels to ensure they are free from cracks, dents, or other damage. Finally, ensure that your doors are professionally maintained. Doing so extends the life of your doors and ensures they continue to function. This prevents expensive fines for inoperable fire doors and keeps your facility operating at full capacity.
Securing a trailer depends on the trailer’s structural integrity as much as your own dock safety equipment. Perform interior and exterior inspections of the trailer. Look for damaged or faulty landing gear and check the structural integrity of the rear impact guards.
Your team depends on the loading dock safety equipment to protect them and the goods moving through your facility. All loading equipment requires inspection throughout each shift to ensure proper function. For example, your team should inspect dock levelers regularly to ensure they remain debris-free.
A messy dock endangers your staff and dramatically reduces productivity. Keeping your dock clear of debris helps prevent tripping hazards and eliminates obstacles that your team must navigate around during loading and unloading.
The first order of business should be general housekeeping. Keep your dock swept and picked up. Designate specific areas for unused items, such as empty pallets and cardboard. Provide proper receptacles for waste, such as plastic wrap and strapping.
While most debris comes from inside your facility, the weather creates its own obstacles. Storms blow in litter and other detritus, while rain creates slick surfaces and slipping hazards. Guard your team, products, and equipment from expensive accidents by protecting your loading dock with weather seals.
Your loading dock is one of the most dangerous places in your whole facility. OSHA reports that 25% of all warehouse accidents occur on the loading dock. Most of these accidents are preventable with the appropriate loading dock safety equipment.
Falls are one of the most common sources of injury on any loading dock. Open dock doors and gaps between trailer beds and the floor create significant fall hazards for dock workers. Prevent these serious accidents by installing dock gates. These physical barriers protect unwary workers and forklifts from accidental falls.
Forklifts are responsible for nearly 35,000 injuries annually. Protect your staff from these often fatal accidents by creating pedestrian safety areas. Use yellow tap paths and physical barriers to mark off where it is safer for pedestrians to travel in and around the loading dock.
Communication is an often overlooked part of loading dock safety. It's easy for a well-trained staff to assume everyone knows what they're expected to do. However, this is rarely the case. New team members and delivery drivers don't have the experience with your procedures to be flawless cogs in the machine that is your warehouse. Instead, you and your staff will need to communicate their responsibilities.
The first step to ensuring new employees understand and follow loading dock procedures is to have those procedures written down and available to the team. Written procedures ensure your team has reference material to refresh memories and double-check safety procedures before getting themselves into a dangerous situation.
Delivery drivers often form a weak link in the loading dock process. The drivers don't work with your team daily and deliver to multiple loading docks, making it easy for them to confuse dock procedures from one facility to the next. Frequent and efficient communication ensures drivers know when it is safe to dock and depart. Loading dock lighting systems are one of the easiest ways to provide this communication. These systems use simple red-green lighting cues to let drivers know when they are clear to enter the dock and when they are free to depart.
The above are our general recommendations for a warehouse safety checklist, but no two facilities are exactly alike. To truly benefit from this checklist, you'll need to customize it to fit your unique operation. We can help with that. Our solutions team has the expert knowledge and access to warehouse safety products that you need to ensure your facility is as safe as possible. To learn more about improving loading dock safety while protecting your bottom line, contact us online or visit one of our locations throughout Georgia and Florida.
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Further Reading
Top 5 Ways to Boost Loading Dock Efficiency
How To Extend the Life of Your Loading Dock Equipment
Driven to Safety: Loading Dock Safety Essentials