Vehicle safety is essential in helping prevent injuries in the warehouse. Each year, thousands of injuries related to forklifts and other warehouse vehicles occur in warehouses throughout the United States. Many times, workers are injured when forklifts fall between docks and an unsecured trailer, forklifts are accidentally driven off loading docks, a forklift strikes them, or they fall while on elevated pallets. Many accidents also involve property damage, including damage to racking, pipes, walls, overhead sprinklers, and machinery. Unfortunately, the majority of injuries and property damage can be attributed to lack of safe operating procedures, lack of safety rule enforcement, and inadequate training. Here are tips you should know to maintain vehicle safety in your warehouse: Make sure workers observe...
While loading docks may not get as much attention for their dangers and safety hazards as construction sites do, they are without a doubt the location for many accidents, serious injuries, and even deaths. In fact, 25% of all industrial accidents occur at loading docks, according to the trade publication Industrial Safety & Hygiene News (ISHN). And for each injury that occurs in a loading dock, there are hundreds of close calls. In 2017, at least 14 people were seriously injured from loading dock accidents, nine of which were fatalities, according to ISHN. The sad reality is that accidents can and will happen. As a loading dock employer, you may have the misfortune of one of your workers being...
Chocking, also known as blocking, is a procedure in which chocks — wedges made of dense material — are placed against a truck or trailer’s tires to prevent accidental movement. The bottom of the chock may be coated or textured to grip the ground better. During loading and unloading, wheel chocks prevent a truck and trailer from rolling or moving unintentionally. Without the protection of chocks, the vehicle could move and cause severe injury or death. It is crucial to chock your wheels at loading docks to prevent a dangerous gap between your trailer and the dock from developing, an area which a forklift may have to drive over many times. Proper Chocking Methods Be prepared to chock your truck...
Loading docks can be highly efficient hubs of activity with thousands of containers of varying sizes and weights being loaded, unloaded, and moved around all day long. When something goes wrong in that well-ordered chain of events, workers can be seriously injured or killed. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notes that common injuries involving lift trucks (also known as forklifts) include those from a truck falling between an unsecured trailer and a loading dock, and from a forklift accidentally driving off the edge of a loading dock. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report states that 27 percent of non-fatal workplace injuries in 2015 were due to slipping, falling, or tripping. Many of these 309,060 cases...
Loading docks are the heart of operations in any facility. This is where raw materials are received into the facility and where finished products are shipped out of the facility. When loading dock equipment is down, every other operation in your facility is impacted. Dock levelers are a vital piece of equipment at your loading docks. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that you include your dock levelers in your regular maintenance cycle. This can help you prevent long-term damage and gives you the opportunity to rectify issues before they become a problem that virtually stops all operations in your facility. Routine dock leveler maintenance ensures that the work environment at your loading docks is safer for everyone. The...
