Self-preservation: Staying Safe in a Loading Dock

A loading dock is an environment in which severe or possibly fatal accidents could happen. The presence of heavy vehicles, forklifts and the loads they carry, and workers on foot in an area that is by definition busy could be a recipe for disaster. Need a working loading dock be the scene of an accident waiting to happen? Not if some simple rules, some involving essential equipment, are applied…

Let's begin with the truck. Getting it into place is the first requirement and for this, a banksman, a ‘reversing assistant', is needed. Of course, a reversing camera could handle the job but method notwithstanding, ensure that nobody goes between the truck's tail and the loading dock's seal, for obvious reasons.

Once the trailer is in place, it makes sense for it to stay put. Should the trailer remain hitched to a lorry cab unit, the worst that can happen is that the driver pulls away prematurely. Good communication will prevent this happening. However, if the trailer is freestanding, you need to keep it under control. Wheel chocks are a solution and it makes sense to use a stable trailer jack – the trailer's own nose gear may not be reliable. Then, take a look at the trailer's deck; rotten floorboards aren't unknown.

With the trailer standing ready, the dock levellers warrant attention. Can they support the weights to be handled? Are they at the right height? Are they secure? You need to know. Bear in mind with all the abovementioned factors that laden or unladen forklifts impose considerable loads and not just in terms of weight. Acceleration and braking forces can easily cause an insecure trailer to move unexpectedly. The speed of the forklift(s) involved and the trailer's suspension are factors in this equation and trailer creep also affects dock levellers.

Now for the forklifts themselves. The use of safety barriers to protect unguarded drops is obvious, as is the use of raves. Less obvious is the need for forklift drivers to see what they're doing. Poor lighting aboard the trailer and around the loading area represents false economy…think ‘dangerous' if you can't see how this will slow the work. Moreover, where larger loads are involved, clear lines of sight are crucial. Use mirrors if necessary and rely on human assistance where applicable.

Just as on the roads, good traffic management applies to loading and unloading. A congested staging area is necessarily inefficient at best. At worst it's dangerous so it's wise to have a traffic system. Traffic cones, signs and marking tape denoting inbound, outbound and no-go areas will pay dividends very quickly. Similarly, ensuring that all personnel, pedestrians included, know what the markings mean could save more than just time. Once again as in traffic, congestion is a major potential problem. A system of storing empty pallets and containers away from the loading area, at a sensible stack height, contributes both to safety and speed of operation.

There are safety factors specifically for the workers on foot, the pedestrians. The traffic system mentioned makes a good starting point but pedestrians also need guard rails and proper, secure ladders for safe movement. They also need a clean working environment, so make sure that debris is cleared frequently.

These are by no means all the rules but there's one simple, overarching practice that must be followed…for safety's sake. This is, in a word, application. All the safety equipment and training in the world are worthless if they aren't present and used correctly.

Chase Equipment are a leading international supplier of loading bay equipment. See our website at Chase Equipment for more information.

Pre-emptive Measures: Industrial Door Maintenance Programmes

There are those who believe in a questionable adage. "Don't do today what you can put off until tomorrow." they say, blithely. It's all very well being cheerfully optimistic but trouble has a tendency to strike unannounced. Trouble with industrial doors can strike deeper, with what may be dire consequences, which is why planning a realistic maintenance programme for them is an important loading bay strategy.

It's a fact that industrial doors can go wrong and it doesn't take a degree in engineering to figure out what might befall them. All you need to do is look at your industrial doors' specification. Some, for example, are fitted with spring and cable break devices. These aren't there for decoration and it's obviously better to be forewarned of possible breakages of this kind by regular inspections as part of a planned maintenance programme.

Much the same goes for industrial roller shutter doors. These usually have a motor cover, which covers a component that can, by definition, fail. Photocells can also let you down, as can remote control devices, timers and induction loops. Not to put too fine a point on it, the bottom line couldn't be easier to understand. Quite simply if industrial doors stop working, so does the workforce that uses them. Moreover, this workforce can be stopped just as effectively – and perhaps for longer – by the consequences of an accident involving industrial doors.

This begs a question concerning how to prevent such things from happening before they become problematic. The answer to this contains three words: inspection, cleaning and lubrication. Preface all three with the word 'regular' and you'll get an idea of how an industrial door maintenance programme ought to be arranged.

By looking at this in a little more detail, we can see how such a programme works. The element of inspection has a clear role: a potential problem, if detected early, can be solved long before it becomes an actual problem. Cleaning and lubrication are equally logical requirements.

The next point concerns the frequency of the checks in an industrial door maintenance programme. Some firms suggest they should be carried out every 90 days. However, there are methods that permit a maintenance programme to be tailored to an individual firm's needs. Establishing a bespoke maintenance programme involves examining two factors. Counting the typical number of door opening/closing cycles per day gives a measure of how hard the doors have to work and the harder they work, the shorter the service interval.

In a similar vein, it is possible to give industrial doors a 'medical'. A detailed examination at the start of a planned maintenance programme can help to give an accurate forecast of the extent of the doors' remaining service life.

In the final analysis, two choices exist. One is to trust to luck, hoping your industrial doors soldier on regardless. This can be costly in terms of possible component failure, mechanism malfunction and consequent losses to downtime and from accidental damage to or by the industrial doors concerned. Alternatively, you could adopt a planned maintenance programme and benefit from industrial doors that are fit for their allotted task. This has a cost too but paying for maintenance and repairs before problems occur offers maximum efficiency, reliability and, of course, peace of mind that all is well in the loading bay. As the Americans say...do the math!

Chase Equipment are a leading international supplier of industrial doors. See our website at Chase Equipment for more information.

Hot Topic: Identifying Dock Seal Fire Risks

Ten years ago, loading dock seal fires in the USA suddenly became big news. The number of fires reported peaked suddenly in 1999, to the bafflement of those concerned. Even the firefighters were mystified until investigations revealed the cause. As a consequence, something could be done about the problem.

As we probably all believe, loading dock seals are just there. They keep goods dry, keep the heat in the buildings they serve and, given regular safety inspections, aren't likely to be too much trouble. So why did they start going up in flames in considerable numbers? The answer's simple – when you know it. It turns out that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were to blame. They required vehicles of a given size to have three rear identification lamps and two rear clearance lamps near the upper edge of their trailer. Drivers were loading or unloading with these lights on. The fitting of bigger alternators to the vehicles, to run an on-board TV, a VCR, a microwave oven, a satellite dish and/or GPS was making matters worse by over-driving the lights, making them prone to overheating. In any event, it was discovered that in as little as 20 minutes, a temperature high enough to cause foam-filled loading dock seal pads to ignite could be reached.

This begs a question: what has this to do with loading dock seals in the UK? Well, in the USA, it's estimated that there are over 100,000 loading docks with compression-style
foam dock seals with unprotected head pads. So what? Any loading dock seal material may be fire-retardant but it has a service life and its fire-retarding abilities can degrade with time. Moreover, the material isn't necessarily fire-resistant and in the UK, lorries have lights. The bottom line is that if you see scorch marks, let alone holes burnt into the material, a danger exists. Such marks suggest hidden damage that must be addressed.

Does this cautionary tale say it all for the fire risks associated with loading dock seals? In a word, no. Like any safety issue, fire safety needs attention. Unlike some safety issues, it isn't something that can be – let's say, put on the back burner...pun intended.

While many of the safety aspects of fire risks in relation to loading dock seals involve commonsense, there are elements that demand special caution. You may be proud of your company's fire safety arrangements, citing installations including smoke and fire detection alarms and an automatic sprinkler system. These are all well and good but their effectiveness – and therefore their value – is very much dependent on what materials you handle.

In 2006, a lorry load of cream cheese caught fire, closing the eastbound carriageway of the A55 at Colwyn Bay. This was down to a burst tyre causing a lorry fire but bring it closer to home and it's no fun. Should you be handling flammable materials, you need to safeguard against their ignition. How? There are cargo-handling techniques, such as limiting the amount of inflammable material held at any one spot at a given time. There are gas detectors, should you be handling this material. There is also a very important rule concerning the point where a loading dock seal will be fitted. This is quite simple: never consider a loading dock as an emergency fire exit. On more than one occasion, personnel have attempted to escape., become wedged between the dock and a lorry – and died.

It's a sobering but unarguable fact that commonsense isn't always enough...and there's no shame in seeking help. From whom? The fire brigade. A Fire Safety Officer will hold the rank of Watch Commander and may rank higher still. Above all, he or she will be trained to spot the risks for you. 'Better safe than sorry' is an old adage but it applies as much as it ever did. Should you be in any doubt, think about this. Suppose there was a fire in your loading dock? Enough said.

Chase Equipment are a leading international supplier of loading bay equipment. See our website at Chase Equipment for more information.

Mast Lifts, the Flexible Alternative to Scissor Lifts

"Give us the tools and we'll finish the job.", said Sir Winston Churchill to President Roosevelt in 1941. Nowadays, companies may not be seeking the USA's help during a world war but Churchill's basic principle remains sound. When it comes to handling goods and specifically to lifting and lowering them, two alternatives exist. A scissor lift offers much to loading bay operators but in many respects, a mast lift is a practicable alternative. A mast lift can be the tool with which the job can be finished, easily and economically.

Mast lifts, as their name implies, consist of a platform that can be raised and lowered on a single column. However, this simplistic portrayal can't even begin to describe mast lifts, let alone convey their advantages. Such as? Mobility is a major benefit of mast lifts. Most can be used by a single operator and can be situated and set up quickly and easily. Their light weight and manoeuvrability means they can be used in many and varied locations. As a scissor lift is necessarily a fixed item, it is incapable of providing movement in any direction other than up and down.

How do mast lifts work? Let's start with the base unit, the 'foot' of the mast lift. This is wheeled and often boasts a zero inside turning radius. Extendable, locking legs fold out from their retracted positions to support the lift, preventing its toppling especially where the mast is free standing and can't rely on additional side support from, say, a wall or bank of shelving.

Now we have our feet (or foot) on the ground, we can consider the mast itself. This may be a single column but some mast lifts have a telescopic frame. Regardless of its structure, the mast is often extendable and can give a working height of more than ten metres. Some mast lift's columns are manually extended, using an integral winch mechanism, though power operation is often available, perhaps as an option. The mast lift's platform may also be power-operated.

A mast lift's platform is a component where refinement may be found. Often, the platform has its own, integral safety rails. These prevent loads falling from the platform. Where personnel are using the platform, these rails not only act as handrails and guard against falls, they also protect individuals against crush or trap injuries as the platform is raised and lowered. Naturally, platform rails have one or more gated sections. Moreover, where the mast lift is powered, the platform often has a control panel. This, essentially a facsimile of the main control panel on the base unit, allows 'riders' to control the platform when they're on board.

As is inevitably the case with goods-handling products, safety and reliability are of paramount importance. Like scissor lifts, mast lifts are built to comply with the appropriate British and international standards. Rigorous pre-production testing ensures that mast lifts are capable of coping with the kind of use (and abuse) meted out to them in real-life working situations. What's more, complete product advice, comprehensive warranties and full parts and service backup ensure that the correct mast lift will meet a customer's needs over a long and highly productive service life.

A mast lift cannot entirely replace a scissor lift but then again, scissor lifts can't match the versatility of mast lifts. To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, finishing the job can't even be considered without the right tools to start it.

Chase Equipment are a leading international supplier of mast lifts. See our website at Chase Equipment for more information.

Gimme Shelter – Dock Shelters Defy the Elements

In an ideal world, the dimensions of goods vehicles and the loading bays they use would conform to strict rules – and dock shelters would scarcely be needed. In the real, non-ideal world, vehicles and loading bays vary in size and configuration. This leaves a gap...not a theoretical, marketplace gap but a physical gap, between the particular vehicle concerned and the loading bay it is occupying. Since the gaps to be filled naturally vary, dock shelters must be flexible.

Just a moment though, what's the problem with a gap's being there anyway? Well, the gap isn't a huge problem in itself but what passes through it can be. Any cargo-handling staff member will soon educate you about this. For example, suppose the goods in transit would suffer if they became wet. Rain, hail, sleet and snow vary in the degree of dampness they create but the end result is the same – soggy goods. Imagining drenched dresses, sodden soap or wet white goods will give you an adequate illustration of the need for dock shelters.

Besides, dock shelters aren't essential only for what they keep out. Everyone is encouraged to have double-glazing and cavity wall insulation to trim their home's carbon footprint. Actually, everyone has these things to keep their heating bills down. Do they leave a door or window open in mid winter? No they don't but an open loading bay loses heat from a building just as effectively. Dock shelters help maintain an even temperature to keep workers even-tempered. They reduce this unarguably expensive and uncomfortable loss...by closing the abovementioned gap.

A dock shelter has to form an effective temporary seal between a loading bay and a vehicle. To do this, it must be able to accept various sizes of vehicle. Doing so is easier than it sounds because dock shelters are simple devices. They come in two guises, projecting or recessed, and both work in the same way. Each has a pair of flexible, fabric side curtains, which rest against the rear quarters of a vehicle's body when it's reversed into place. Vertical marking strips help the driver align the vehicle correctly. This leaves only the upper edge of the vehicle's tail to be accommodated. The various heights of vehicle are catered for by an adjustable head frame, which can be positioned to allow the head curtain it carries to rest in the right place. Sometimes, this head frame adjustment is automatic, making gap-filling easier still.

What makes a dock shelter good? In a word, flexibility. In order to make a working seal between a vehicle's tail and a building, a dock shelter must flex but only in a horizontal direction. Equally, it must be tough...tough enough to handle repeated pressure and friction from moving vehicles as well as assaults from Mother Nature. Fortunately, fabrics muscular enough to cope are used, suspended from similarly brawny side and head frame assemblies.

Last but not least, there's a further aspect of your business that expertly designed and well-made dock shelters can enhance. The world may not be ideal but it's certainly competitive. Remember that ill conceived, badly constructed and or scruffy dock shelters can give a lasting impression – of the wrong sort – about your business. After all, it's better to have excellent, effective dock shelters that won't be curtains for your business.

Chase Equipment are a leading international supplier of docks shelters. See our website at Chase Equipment for more information.