Putting safety first in the loading bay

While the Government has recently initiated a Red Tape Challenge seeking views on health and safety legislation, loading and unloading equipment specialist Thorworld Industries has urged businesses not to wait for official guidance and take a proactive approach to protect its own workers and resources.

An accredited SAFEcontractor member, Thorworld is maintaining its own safety initiative, focusing on the vehicle loading and unloading area. Potentially this is one of the most hazardous areas in any company, warehouse or distribution centre. Yet despite the existence of an extensive range of safety equipment on the market, the company continues to see examples of poor practice.

“It astonishes me to see businesses operating without a robust loading and unloading area safety strategy,” says Meale. “Sometimes, a firm will discover the limitations of its procedures the hard way, after somebody has already been injured. For others, their loading and unloading areas are ‘an accident waiting to happen’.”

Aside from the ethical ‘duty of care’ considerations an employer owes to its personnel, there are strong economic imperatives for investing in safety equipment. Some of the costs associated with an accident can be measured immediately in terms of damage and downtime, but longer-term implications such as higher insurance premiums or the threat of legal action aren’t always obvious. For these reasons, Thorworld is highlighting how simple precautions can be achieved using cost-effective safety aids.

“As soon as a loading dock door is opened, and a trailer pushed towards the dock, the scope for accidents increases exponentially,” says Meale.

Thorworld’s Dockprotecta range of loading bay safety equipment includes dock and vehicle bumpers (including Thorworld’s patented sliding nylon dock bumpers), wheel chocks safety bollards, wheel guides and alignment curbs, vehicle restraints, signs & mirrors, trailer safety locks and supports, speed ramps, column/racking protectors and dock and traffic lights.

Equally important, vehicle movement must be controlled and, where possible, neutralised, in order to prevent lift tucks and personnel falling off the back of trailers, or becoming trapped or crushed. Thorworld provides a range of products to prevent vehicle creep. The simplest and perhaps most affordable solutions are in its range of Chock-it wheel chocks which are positioned in front of the wheels to stop movement.

Another method of preventing unintentional pull-aways is via a trailer safety lock fitted to a parked trailer once the air hose has been disconnected; this then prevents the driver connecting the trailer and driving away. And for the ultimate in vehicle and personnel safety, Thorworld offers the vehicle wheel lock, which not only prevents drive-away accidents during loading and unloading but also reduces the possibility of vehicle theft.

A number of these safety solutions can be specified with sensors that warn of any unanticipated motion and which can be integrated to other devices in the loading bay such as traffic lights. “As technology is developing, integrated electronic systems are becoming an increasingly popular means of co-ordinating safety procedures across multiple pieces of equipment,” explains Meale.

Another hazard, and possibly one of the most dangerous, is when a vehicle trailer, without its cab, tips forward. This can happen if the standard landing legs fail and when the vehicle has been loaded incorrectly, or when empty it becomes unbalanced. Preventing this is easy thanks to the Thorworld trailer safety support.

Health and safety is not limited to dramatic one-off incidents. The potential exists for extreme operating temperatures to have long-term adverse effects on personnel – and potentially on products, if for example the warehouse is handling perishable goods. Items such as inflatable dock seals help to maintain a consistent, safe temperature. Similarly, dock bumpers prevent sustained damage to vehicles and the building infrastructure, avoiding hidden long-term safety risks.

Investing in equipment is not in itself enough to guarantee a safe working environment. Numerous standards and directives applicable to good practice in installation and operation must be adhered to so a vital aspect of health and safety is to ensure that employees receive appropriate training. Thorworld offers a range of training programmes to help customers master the safe and efficient handling of its loading bay equipment.

Thorworld advises that – before any investment is made – a company should perform a health and safety audit to identify potential hazards in their specific loading and unloading or warehouse area. A new publication by FEM (The European Materials Handling Federation) offers invaluable advice on how to control safety issues. You can find the guide entitled ‘Guidance On Safety On/Around A Vehicle Loading Area’ at fem.uniweb.be

Thorworld also has detailed discussions with customers about the availability and merits of different loading bay equipment, accessories and aids.

“With a little common sense, backed by expert guidance and smart investment in equipment and training, loading and unloading area safety can be improved to the point where accidents will be waiting a long time before they happen,” concludes Meale.

Thorworld celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. BSI registered with ISO 9002 accreditation since 1992, Thorworld was one of the first companies in its sector to achieve the latest ISO 9001 (2008) international quality management standard and has an extensive list of customers across a range of industries and business types, including building, construction, distribution, logistics, transport, warehousing, retail, food, drink, manufacturing, industry, waste management & recycling and the service sector.