Dock loading safety has a direct correlation to your profit margin. The fewer accidents that occur in your business, the fewer insurance claims you have to pay out, the fewer pieces of equipment you have to repair or replace and fewer items of your inventory are lost due to damage. So if you can work to increase knowledge of safety precautions around your loading docks, you can work to protect your human and your tangible assets.

Industrial loading docks, dock lifts and all sorts of other loading dock equipment pose dangers to your business. If someone is not paying attention, someone can get hurt or product can get spilled or dropped. Equipment can run into things, or worse yet, fall between a gap between the dock and a vehicle.

To find out more about loading docks education and training:

1. Start with a look at loading dock safety and profitability.

2. Look at dock loading accident types.

3. Continue with safety materials for loading docks.

4. Use videos to train your dock loading staff.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look at dock loading safety and profitability

Examine the correlation between dock loading safety and profitability for your business.

I recommend: Learn how to boosting loading dock safety and productivity with tips from inboundlogistics.com. Find out about audits, loading dock equipment maintenance, examining loading dock accessories and more. Rethink your loading dock profitability and safety by examining information from Food Manufacturing. Learn not only how injuries occur, but how damage to equipment and products happen, all off which lower your profitability.

Examine dock and portable loading docks accident types

Find out what kinds of accidents occur while dock loading. Also examine other tips to dock safety.

I recommend: Learn the top warehouse loading dock accidents from Blue Giant Equipment Corporation. Take advantage of their dock safety resources. Read 7 Keys to Loading Dock Safety from BLR Business & Legal Reports' Safety Daily Adviser.

Continue on with safety advice for loading docks

Use other training materials to learn about safety advice for loading docks.

I recommend: Inventory Operations Consulting offers loading dock safety advice that includes information on wheel chocks, other vehicle restraint devices, dock levelers, as well as other equipment. State Compensation Insurance Fund also offers industrial loading dock safety advice. They cover such topics as dock levelers, trailer and good housekeeping.

Purchase loading docks education and training videos

Use video training to help educate your dock loading staff as well as yourself. Remember that OSHA requires some specific training of forklift operators working around loading docks.

I recommend: Consider ordering videos from Business Training Media to train yourself and your employees. They offer a wide variety of warehouse loading dock training materials. Safety Is Us offers the Loading Dock and Warehouse Safety Training Program. Get training materials from OSHA for forklift drivers.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider adding a quiz component to your dock loading video training to make sure that your staff fully understands the training tool. Think about requiring certification before operators are allowed to work on or with the machinery or on the dock.

Your loading docks help improve your bottom line by increasing the efficiency and productivity of your employees involved in shipping and receiving. Industrial loading docks by themselves help your employees to work more efficiently, but loading docks do not accommodate all trucks and trailers equally.

Online, you'll find plenty of manufacturers, fabricators and distributors that specialize in dock loading equipment and accessories to enhance and improve the functionality of your docking system. As you begin your research, consider the following options for loading dock improvements:

1. Use portable loading docks when you can't justify or afford the cost of new dock construction.

2. Bridge the gap between the trailer and dock with specialized loading dock equipment.

3. Enhance the security of your shipping and receiving operations with loading dock equipment.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Consider portable loading dock solutions for your business

Portable loading docks provide a quick, cost-effective solution when you need additional dock space but can't afford to add another permanent loading dock.

I recommend: Check out the Bluff Manufacturing catalog selection of portable loading docks. This company originated in the 1920s and remains dedicated to providing quality products for the material handling industry. If your docks sit at floor level, consider a dock lift from JH Industries; you can permanently install their Copperloy dock lifts or use the heavy-duty, stainless-steel lift as a portable solution.

Order loading dock equipment to improve safety, efficiency and effectiveness

A loading dock by itself will not suffice if a truck backs up to your dock to load or unload, and the truck bed and dock don't line up perfectly. Dock plates, levelers, lifts and ramps allow hand trucks, forklifts and pallet trucks easy access to the trailer's interior by erasing the gap between the truck and dock or warehouse.

I recommend: Visit Handi-Ramp and click on the height differential or capacities to order aluminum dock plates that will work best for non-powered dock loading applications like pallet trucks and hand carts. Go to C&H Distributors to order their space-saving dock leveler or one of their pit-dock levelers to bridge the gap between the trailer and dock for your forklifts. Whether you need ramps to lift a truck up to dock height or yard ramps that facilitate walking or equipment traffic, consider ordering your loading dock ramps from Bondor Manufacturing.

Install loading dock accessories to improve the security of your operation

Provide your company and your employees with a more secure loading dock environment that will deter thieves and vandals.

I recommend: Learn more about the Guardian 3-in-1 Dor-Seal System at Chalfant, a company that has provided loading dock equipment since 1940. The Guardian system consists of a dock seal with a heavy-duty wood or steel mounting plate, chain-link cladding to deter theft and vandalism and foam backing that conforms to building wall irregularities and provides an air-tight and water-tight seal between the dock pad and building wall. Add another level of security and improved visibility during nighttime shipments with one of the lighting solutions from Loading Dock Supply.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Figure out your height differential before you order dock levelers and dock plates. To calculate, subtract the dock height (from ground to dock floor) from the truck height (from ground to trailer bed). Consider the typical trailer height 55 inches and refrigerated or container trailers 59 inches.

A loading dock is any functional space in a building or warehouse, where trucks or vans are loaded and unloaded. A common feature in industrial and commercial buildings, a loading dock helps in increasing the efficiency and productivity of all businesses that involve shipping or material transport.

If you want to use loading dock equipment to enhance the productivity of your business, you will need to know various technical terms associated with loading docks. This guide intends to familiarize you with the loading docks key terms, such as dock plates, dock boards, dock seals and dock lifts.

Action Steps
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Dock plates

Dock plates are light-weight metal plates that form a bridge between a trailer and a loading dock.

I recommend: For more information about dock plates, you can read through the glossary at Purolator Courier Ltd., a reputable courier company.

Dock boards

Dock boards are heavy duty loading ramps made from steel. The basic function of dock boards is the same as that of dock plates. However, the load capacity of a dock board is much higher than that of a dock plate.

I recommend: Easy Rack, a reputable supplier of material moving equipment, provides detailed information about dock plates and dock boards.

Dock seals

Dock seals are the sealing devices used around a dock opening. These devices keep out rough weather and also act as a cushion to mitigate the force from a backing truck.

I recommend: A Plus Warehouse, an industrial equipment supplier, provides information about dock seals.

Dock bumpers

Dock bumpers are designed to protect loading docks and their cargo from impact damage. Dock bumpers may be laminated, steel-faced, molded or extruded.

I recommend: Bastian Material Handling (BMH) provides detailed information about various loading dock equipment and accessories, including dock bumpers. You can also refer to Dock Bumper Solutions, a supplier of loading docks and industrial accessories.

Dock lifts

As the name indicates, these lift tables are useful for loading and unloading operations at docks. Generally, these lift tables have a lift travel of less than 5 feet.

I recommend: Cherry's Industrial Equipment Corp., a reputable supplier of material handling products, offers a glossary of technical terms related to material handling equipment

Scissor lifts

This is another table lift category that is widely used in many industries for material handling, including loading docks. In a scissor lift, a criss-crossed mechanism is employed for lowering or raising the load. These lifts operate on hydraulic, diesel or electric power as per the application requirements.

I recommend: ScissorLiftRentals.net is an informative website for the prospective renters and customers of scissor lifts. In addition, GlobalSpec offers detailed explanation about scissor lifts and their applications.

Lift capacity

This is the most important specification of any material handling equipment. Lift capacity is the maximum load or force supported by the equipment. Before buying or renting such equipment, you must assess your requirements and calculate the lift capacity.

I recommend: Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) publishes a glossary of technical terms, including lift capacity.

Whether you have multiple bays on your loading docks or you unload from portable loading docks, your employees should have thorough training in loading docks safety. While the United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandates safety training for forklift use, it does not mandate dock safety. Even so, anyone who sets foot anywhere near the loading docks should have the proper safety training.

To make sure everyone is safe on your loading docks, there are a number of practices you can institute. Safety is everyone’s concern and you should make it your highest priority. You can make your loading docks safer by:

1. Setting up loading docks safety training sessions.

2. Posting signs with safety rules near the loading docks.

3. Reinforcing the rules with stiff penalties for infractions.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Familiarize yourself with loading docks safety issues

Read as much as you can to find out what common areas of concern are. That way you can better evaluate your loading docks to make sure they are safe for your workers.

I recommend: Inventory Operations Consulting has good basic information about the hazards associated with industrial loading docks. The State Compensation Insurance Fund offers specific points of dock safety you should teach employees. According to this organization, in addition to forklift safety, you should include safety training in dock lifts, loading dock ramps and dock levelers.

Evaluate the safety of your loading docks

Set up an evaluation procedure to determine what areas are the most lacking in safety. Conduct interviews with dockworkers to find out their concerns. Once you know the areas of weakness, you can address the problems and make the loading docks safer work environments.

I recommend: Use the questionnaire from the Utah Workers Compensation Fund to see if your dock loading procedures meet safety standards. For a more elaborate evaluation tool for loading docks safety, see the white paper from Elsevier B.V.

Set up training sessions for loading docks safety

Everyone on your staff should have basic loading docks safety knowledge. Use your evaluations to customize training to your situation. You can hire experts to come in to present information to your employees or you can use customizable videos. You can also send one of your reliable employees for train-the-trainer classes. Then they can teach loading docks safety to the rest of your staff.

I recommend: Start with the list of industrial loading dock safety checkpoints from Materials Handling Equipment. You can fill out a request form to get more information about specific training programs the company offers. Use the training videos from J.J. Keller & Associates to teach safety around your loading docks. Videos are also available for drivers who must use dock plates and other accessories in a variety of settings.