The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Safety Council (NSC) have once again renewed their partnership to jointly advocate for workplace safety. Meaning now is the time for distribution centers to also renew their focus on worker protection by revitalizing their commitment to loading dock safety.
Loading dock facilities play a crucial role in the nation’s supply chains, especially strategic last mile distribution centers near final shipping destinations. While speed and efficiency is often the main priority, safe loading dock operations are equally important to maintaining the uninterrupted flow of commerce.
It’s also essential to maintain compliance, given OSHA’s three-year national emphasis program for warehouses and distribution centers.
Addressing the Most Significant Loading Dock Risks
Loading dock work carries inherent risk, and as workloads increase, so too do those risks. That’s why loading dock workers require optimal protection to ensure increased capacities don’t also translate to a rise in injuries.
Because loading dock safety involves an extensive cross-section of industrial safety hazards, it’s important to prioritize your efforts to account for the most urgent safety concerns first. These include:
- The edge of the loading dock
- Frequent handling of heavy loads
- Industrial vehicle activity
- Elevated platforms and stairways
Further, loading dock workers are sometimes in a rush, even when tasked with managing heavy loads. It’s thus imperative that any safety equipment, such as a loading dock safety gate, is easy to use and unobtrusive.
Meeting these and other industrial fall protection challenges may also require securing effective training and education resources, which is one of the main advantages of the NSC and NIOSH alliance.
Combined Nonprofit and Government Safety Resources
To improve workplace safety across a variety of sectors, the combined efforts of the NSC and NIOSH will engage in a multifaceted approach to improving workplace safety, including:
- Occupational safety events
- Research and evaluation of workplace hazards
- Business outreach and communication
- Safety education and professional development courses
There are a few ways safety managers can leverage these combined NSC and NIOSH resources for greater warehouse/distribution center safety, such as:
- Attend the annual NSC Congress and Expo, which features innovative workplace safety technology and networking opportunities
- Download and print free safety posters (being sure to heed OSHA 1910 Subpart J regulations for signage)
- Book a course relevant to warehousing work at a regional training center
Bolstering Your Training with the Right Tools
Securing the right physical resources for loading dock safety is just as important, and it’s important to support a well-trained team with reliable and long-lasting industrial fall protection solutions. It also serves as a constant reminder of the importance of ingraining safety protocols into all loading dock activities.
This requires thorough knowledge of your OSHA, state plan equivalent, or CCOHS requirements. That’s because a comprehensive safety plan depends on a three-tiered safety plan, involving a diligent approach to:
- Training
- Safety equipment
- Regulatory knowledge
While it’s the safety manager’s primary responsibility to stay updated on the latest regulatory requirements and implement them, they can gain an enormous advantage by working directly with an experienced manufacturer of industrial fall protection devices.
When Swing Gates May Not Be the Best Option
The leading fall protection devices are designed to fulfill the most extensive range of regulatory requirements and real-world applications. That’s especially true of a vertical lift loading dock safety gate, built specifically for the unique workflow requirements of loading bays.
By raising a safety gate up, instead of allowing it to swing outward into working areas, an industrial vertical lift gate achieves several important benefits for busy distribution centers and warehouses:
- Saves valuable floor space, already crowded with materials, forklifts, and laborers
- Helps workers stay focused on the task at hand
- Prevents the safety equipment itself from posing a safety hazard
The same design concept secures these same benefits in locations where standard safety swing gates would normally be used.
Last mile distribution centers especially require maximization of space. Rather than let floor real estate issues hinder your safety plan, securing a more innovative loading dock safety gate allows you to maintain your safety and workflow goals in the easiest and most compliant way.
Vertical lift gates are extremely effective anywhere on the floor where controlling worker and forklift movement is essential, put space is at a premium. This includes, at minimum:
- Storage areas near corridors with high activity and limited range of movement
- Stair platforms where swing gates would reduce usable space to under 22 in. (55 cm); a violation of OSHA Subpart D, section 1910.25(b)(9)
- Controlling the movement of forklifts, using a vertical lift gate with extended widths
- Machine guarding for equipment requiring easy access, yet minimal disruption to surrounding activities
- Mezzanines, where it’s important to control access without crowding employees into a leading edge (as a swing gate can easily do)
- Stair and ladderways, where a vertical lift gate improves fall protection without needing to open swing gate out into usable area
Adapting to New Capacities With Safety System “Elasticity”
Another important factor for loading docks and associated storage space is the need to continually expand or contract operations – which means so too must the fall protection system. Modular railing is the perfect way to maximize not only space, but time, given its ease of installation and adjustment.
Using only hand tools, a modular guardrail allows technicians to adapt their main line of industrial fall protection in minutes, while still meeting the stringent guardrail design requirements of OSHA Subpart D section 1910.29(b).
Maximizing Space, Safety, and Knowledge with Innovative Fall Safety Solutions
Loading docks run on the strength of their teams. Collaborating with other industry professionals is always a safe investment of time, whether discussing your industrial fall safety concerns with a workplace safety organization or an experienced fall protection equipment manufacturer.
A strategically placed vertical lift gate enables easy, worry-free movement while ensuring your fall protection equipment doesn’t itself constrain your safety plan or operations. By emphasizing innovative designs and industry collaboration, safety managers can find easier and more effective solutions for the most critical safety challenges facing distribution centers and warehouses.
Contact us today and discuss your loading dock fall safety needs with Fabenco’s dedicated fall safety specialists. We’ve been supporting our clients’ industrial fall safety needs for the better part of a half-century – and with your help, we’ll continue doing so far into the future.
