Preventing Loading Dock Door Damage And Dock Drop - offs

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 unmentioned.
Loading dock door damage
Loading dock door damage typically results from either a staging or hauling operation or a position 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 sore, resulting in the inability to completely open the loading dock door. A door that is not fully open offers a potentially unsafe aspect over the door can drop on employees, goods, or loading equipment.
Loading dock door drop - offs
Statistics indicate1 that every day there are over 260 forklift truck accidents at loading docks. In reality, every three days there is one serpentine loading dock chance where a forklift drops - off of a loading dock. For each loading dock celebration, 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 incubus to add a safe work environment. The last thing a company wants to study about is a loading dock door drop - off that occurred in one of their facilities, especially if the mishap 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 ) Newspaper Fatality / Mishap Report2. In addition, an investigation may follow to fix upon if the company was in compliance with OSHA ' s applicable standards.
OSHA may cite the General Duty Clause, which requires, " Each director shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a pad of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to effect death or serious de facto 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 pass can conspicuously impact a company’s profitability. Not only is the company duty-bound for the costs of the person’s injuries, but significant costs, potentially thousands of dollars, may emanation from a proceedings. In addition, if a fatality is involved, or there are three or more employees as a aftermath of a work - related incident the company must report it to OSHA within eight hours ( 29 CFR 1904. 39 ). This will most likely fruit 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, foundation the company with one fewer loading dock in operation. Just to replace a hurt door panel costs between US$200 - US$600. This does not encompass the downtime created by cast away use of the door, the 2 - 3 hours of labor costs to secure the new panel, or the cost of the repair person’s travel time.
There may be more 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 identical as microbes, dust, moisture and other actual contamination, there may be supplementary costs related to product replacement.
The company may suffer supplementary 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 suburb of a single chain across the loading dock door. The use of a chain is an outdated practice that offers deficient, if any, protection against loading dock drop - off when decisive habit equipment is heterogeneous.
The newest technology in dock door protection is the use of a safety hamper that provides a fixed visual warning and a safety scandal sheet. In supplement, an audible alarm is triggered when the safety catch 22 is hit. This provides an supplementary warning to the dock employee, allowing for resultant reaction time to reduce the risk of accidentally hitting the dock door. If the clog is busted up, it safely detaches upon impact and can delicate be reattached in just a few seconds. No individual understanding is capital to reattach the booby trap. This product can also help prevent forklift drop - off at raised docks and pedestrians from walking off the butt end of the dock.
Below are supporting statements from several mammoth distribution companies as to why they now choose to use loading dock door safety barriers in arrangement 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 undivided food marketing and distribution network which warehouses food products until they are supplied to wholesalers: “On a regular takeoff, we change a lot of skids full of products, as well as bummed out 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 pen to any imaginable safety problem. Safety barriers are the perfect solution to support our company’s longing to safety. ”
• Serge Fellow, Director, Molson - Coors Approaching Company: “Our stage is a little different. We have an interior loading dock and since we don’t have loading dock doors. Nevertheless, to secure our loading operation we decided to give 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 uncondensed 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 inestimable loading dock door hot potato, we installed safety barrier at each loading dock door. Since that time we have not had a single loading dock door business. ”
Loading dock door safety barriers, from companies analogous 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 arrange a safer environment at the loading dock and aid in preventing loading dock drop - off accidents. Dock door safety barriers help strengthen a company’s wish to chance and injury prevention.
Concurrently, loading dock door safety barriers also:
• Restrict access to the MTZ ( material transfer section ).
• Reduce employee and facility downtime.
• Reduce maintenance and repair budgets and then 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 Fitness 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.