6 Warehouse Loading Dock Safety Tips

A warehouse manager needs to know how to reduce employee injuries and balance this with the need for increased loading dock efficiency. Luckily, many safe practices allow warehouses to accomplish both. For example, organizing the loading bay to prevent trips and falls will also make for a less congested workflow. Adopting safer ergonomic equipment will speed up many physically demanding tasks.

Learn how to improve loading dock efficiency safely with these tips.

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The Importance of Safety in the Loading Dock

The loading dock is a critical area of any warehouse. Without it, nothing gets in or out. It’s the vital connection point between transportation and storage in logistics management. It’s also one of the more dangerous areas of the warehouse. Of all industrial safety incidents that occur, 25% happen at the loading bay, and, for every accident, another 600 near-misses occur.

Employees risk falling off the dock or slipping on snow and ice. These risks increase when workers carry heavy items, which may block their vision or upset their balance. From delivery trucks to forklifts, vehicular collisions, backovers and trailer creep present more risks. All the engines running within a single space can also pump carbon monoxide into the work environment.

Managing safety at your loading dock is more than just the right thing to do. It can also set your company apart with a huge strategic advantage. With a safer workplace, your employees will be less stressed on the job, naturally increasing efficiency. You’ll also attract a more talented loading dock team and prevent fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). When you go above and beyond their expectations, you’ll gain even more advantages. Investing in better safety for your loading bay might even reduce your insurance costs.

Loading dock accidents cost companies around $675 million each year. A safety incident costs a business in many ways. Besides workers’ compensation, a company may have administrative and legal costs associated with an injury case. You’ll also lose money through lost productivity. A forklift incident calls for a median 13 missed workdays, and any accident may interrupt operations. Even if no safety incidents occur, you may still face OSHA fines for unsafe loading dock conditions.

Potential Loading Dock Hazards

As one of the most hazard-prone areas of the warehouse, loading docks are filled with potential safety issues. Some incidents and dangers you, your personnel and delivery drivers may encounter include:

1. Slips, Trips and Falls

Loading docks have large openings raised about 48 inches off the ground to allow trailers to hitch up and get loaded or unpacked. Whenever trailers aren’t attached, these openings present a fall hazard.

One solution is to keep the doors shut when no truck is at the dock. This doesn’t always happen because open dock doors can provide much-needed ventilation. When workers get near this opening, they may fall to a lower level. While loading docks must have a painted edge to increase visibility around fall areas, this isn’t enough. Workers may ignore visual barriers and warnings, passing by without giving them much thought. A visible marker, and even a chain, won’t stop someone who trips and loses their balance, either.

The other hazard comes with weather exposures. Rain, snow and ice can make the loading dock environment quite slippery. Loading bay doors stay open for much of the day, making both indoor and outdoor portions of the loading dock risky. Even when the doors stay closed, if they’re not insulated, wet floors may form ice. Busy workers can slip and fall, especially when they’re not paying close attention or are rushing to get things done.

2. Forklift Accidents

Wet and icy conditions also increase the potential for forklift accidents. When they lose traction, forklifts may glide into pedestrian workers, other machinery, walls, columns or even stored products. Even without ice, forklifts are liable to get into accidents. They can fall off dock openings and ramps, topple or knock over other objects. In 2018, forklifts were responsible for 85 workplace fatalities and another 7,940 nonfatal injuries resulting in missed workdays. Besides injuring workers, these heavy machines may damage themselves and the products in the loading bay.

3. Loading Dock Separation Accidents

When the trailer separates from the loading dock, it creates an unexpected gap between the dock position opening and the trailer. If workers or forklifts are inside the trailer or passing through the threshold, they may be injured. Dock separation also leads to a dangerous incident known as forklift fall-through. When the forklift tries to leave the trailer, it falls through the gap, sometimes pinning down the worker inside upon impact.

Some types of dock separation incidents include:

Drive-aways: These incidents occur when a trailer driver pulls away from the dock while it’s still being loaded or unloaded. Poor communication between loading bay workers and the vehicle operator may cause a drive-away. Requiring drivers to park, disengage the engine and step out of the vehicle during loading can help.
Trailer creep: This accident is harder to notice than a drive-away. Trailer creep occurs when the trailer inches away from the dock, revealing a gap. When forklifts and heavy machinery enter the truck, their momentum transfers to the trailer and slowly pushes it forward. Loading docks have wheel chocks to prevent such incidents. However, miscommunication, complacency and human error sometimes prevent them from being properly implemented. Also, wheel chocks may not be enough since they can slip or get pushed out of the way.
Trailer pop-up or up-ending: When shipments get loaded or unloaded and heavy forklifts move around within the trailer, weight shifts around. This shifted weight may cause the trailer’s nose or tail to pop up.
Landing gear collapse: When trailers park at the loading dock, they’re secured with the trailer’s landing gear. If the leg gives out or rolls inward or outward, the trailer will tip sideways.

4. Ergonomic and Heavy-Lifting Injuries

When workers must manually lift and lower shipments, they can experience overexertion or sprains. These issues are common in loading docks and staging areas. Lifting light loads repeatedly can cause repetitive motion injuries, and lifting heavy loads without proper form can injure the lower back, knees, shoulders and other body parts.

5. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and Smoke Inhalation

The combination of forklifts and lift trucks zipping around and tractor-trailers idling can release smoke, carbon monoxide and other fumes. Since carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, it’s incredibly harmful. Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause illness and even unconsciousness, which opens your workers up to other injuries. It’s critical for loading docks to have proper ventilation that’s regularly tested. The bay also needs carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. As the loading dock manager, you’re responsible for training your team on the protocol for when either alarm sounds.

How can you avoid these hazards, meet safety regulations and protect your workers and property? Follow these six tips for how to improve loading dock safety:

1. Keep the Area Clean and Organized

Since water and ice present a slipping hazard, it’s critical to keep the loading dock floor clean. Teach your team to recognize incidental spills and clean them up immediately. Keep cleaning supplies on hand to deal with water, oil slicks and other spills you might encounter. Develop a plan to keep the loading bay free from rainwater and snowmelt and clean these liquids up when they appear. Keep outdoor walkways and the areas in front of the loading docks plowed and de-iced to protect workers outdoors.Besides cleaning the floors, it’s critical to keep the area well organized to reduce tripping hazards and ease pedestrian and forklift traffic. Keep waste receptacles nearby for workers to dispose of cardboard, shrink wrap and other packing materials. If shipping containers, pallets or other products must stay in the loading dock, develop a system to keep them organized and out of the way. Establish plenty of storage space and create an organization system to keep tools and equipment safe and out of the way.

2. Invest in Reliable Vehicle Restraints

Loading dock vehicle restraints provide a vast improvement over wheel chocks. While OSHA requires wheel chocks, these are not practical in many cases. In drive-away incidents, trucks can drive over wheel chocks as though they were small ramps. Loading bay workers may forget to place wheel chocks or secure them firmly in place behind the wheels. They’re also not as effective in gravel, snow or ice.

Effective vehicle restraints use force to secure trailers in place. As the trailer backs into the loading dock, it pushes the vehicle restraint into position. A worker can then activate a rotating hook to secure the vehicle in place from below the dock opening. Vehicle restraint systems come with a light communication system, eliminating even more drive-away incidents.

Once the trailer is locked into place, a red light tells the truck driver it’s unsafe to move. The light system also tells forklift drivers when the trailer is secure and safe to board.

3. Train Workers in Ergonomics and Use Ergonomic Material Handling Equipment

Make sure your workers understand the dangers of heavy lifting and know how to lift with proper form. Workers should never try to lift heavy loads alone, and when lifting manually, they should bend at the knees, not the back. They should also wear personal protective equipment, like gripping gloves and high-traction footwear.

Besides using correct form, ergonomic tools can also ease the burden of manual material handling. When forklifts aren’t practical, manual or electric pallet trucks or compact pallet stackers for tight spaces prevent employees from handling heavy loads by hand. As another tool suited for loading docks, an ergonomic work positioner can lift and lower boxes and crates and transport light loads at various heights. These tools can also help prevent heavy machinery accidents by taking on lighter loads and reducing the need for forklifts.

4. Use Safety Markings and Fall Protection

To prevent falls, make the edge of the loading dock as visible as possible. Pedestrians and forklift operators are less likely to fall when the dock’s edge is painted bright yellow, indicating caution or warnings. Since this area needs to remain clear during loading and unloading, these visual safety markings are crucial.

When doors are open and not in use, it’s also helpful to have fall protection barriers in place. Blocking off the opening with steel or aluminum safety railings can protect workers from falling without limiting ventilation and airflow from the dock opening.

5. Only Let Trained and Certified Drivers Operate Heavy Machinery

Forklift drivers need extensive, OSHA-compliant training. Since forklifts present such a huge safety concern, well-trained drivers can make your loading dock much safer. While they seem similar, some key differences separate forklifts from the regular automobiles your workers are used to. These drivers need training on the exact vehicle they will operate and must have extensive knowledge of the truck controls, operating instructions and load capacity. Your loading dock likely has forklift-restricted areas reserved for pedestrians and other environmental conditions, like ramps or narrow lanes, that drivers must navigate.

Train and certify your drivers on their specific vehicles, and do this any time your work area introduces new conditions or vehicles. Any time an individual drives unsafely or is involved in an incident or near-miss, schedule refresher training. You should institute refresher courses every three years, regardless of other factors.

6. Establish Safe Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

While equipment can improve loading bay safety in many ways, the way your team works is also critical. Introducing safety policies and ensuring your employees understand and practice them can go a long way toward safe operations. For example, your company may have a rule for securing trailers before entering them. It will only safeguard your team as intended if you, as the manager, enforce it.

Work to develop useful SOPs for your specific facility. Some procedures you might include are:

Use a barrier at the openings whenever trailers aren’t attached.
Drive forklifts at the facility-wide speed limit.
Inspect and secure loads before handling them.
Remove damaged pallets from rotation.
Engage dock locking devices and wait for the light signal before entering a trailer.
Take frequent breaks when performing physically intensive labor.

Equipment to Improve Loading Dock Safety

Implementing the right policies and engineering controls will go a long way toward a safer, healthier workforce and a loading bay with less damaged products. Cherry’s Material Handling also offers a range of safety products and equipment.

Safety Barriers and Bollards

Our safety barrier and railing selection can secure dock edges, rampways and other elevated areas within the loading dock. They provide better fall protection than painted edges alone.

Our safety bollards can also prevent incidents related to tractor-trailer and forklift impacts. They can go outside the loading bay to guard against trailer collisions or go inside the dock for forklift collisions. We also offer overhead door track guards to prevent impacts from damaging your loading bay doors and causing other safety hazards in the process.

Ergonomic Equipment and Pallet Trucks

Transferring some of your light-duty lifting and transportation jobs from heavy forklifts to manual equipment can reduce dock congestion and the likelihood of forklift accidents. It also reduces some of the ergonomic strains on your manual material handling.

Cherry’s Material Handling offers many movers and ergonomic solutions to help your team safely and efficiently lift and transport goods throughout your loading bay. Our labor-saving equipment for warehouse loading docks includes:

Manual and electric pallet trucks.
Manual, semi-electric and full power pallet stackers.
Hand trucks and aluminum dollies.
Manual, semi-electric and full power work positioners.
Manual, hydraulic, pneumatic and electric lift tables.

Reasons to Choose Cherry’s Material Handling

Cherry’s Material Handling has been helping warehouses improve safety and efficiency for more than 35 years. Through our online shopping experience, we make it easy to find what you need to make your loading bay more ergonomic, safe and efficient. You’ll find detailed specs on all our safety equipment, allowing you to check out in just a few clicks. Choose Cherry’s Material Handling because we:

Offer competitive pricing and flexible order quantities.
Ask the right questions to understand your needs and develop custom solutions to solve 100% of the problem.
Sell top-quality manufactured equipment for maximum performance, safety and efficiency.

If you ever have questions or can’t find exactly what you need, contact our product specialists or call us at 877-350-2729. We can give recommendations or even develop custom material handling solutions tailored for your loading dock.