Keeping all of your employees safe on the job can be difficult, especially when you are working around heavy machinery. Conducting regular safety briefings with your team will help, but what if you’re not sure of the best safety practices? Loading docks, which are especially dangerous areas, are often overlooked during safety meetings. Here are a few simple tips to keep your employees safe while they work on a loading dock.
Wheel Restraints
Drivers may cause an accident if they leave a loading dock too early. This can be caused by miscommunication, distraction, or a mistake. If a driver pulls away from the dock too soon, employees working at the loading dock can become injured. GMR Safety offers a vehicle restraint system. This indestructible wheel-based vehicle restraint prevents drivers from rolling away before the loading dock employees are ready, which keeps everybody safe.
Regular Cleaning
If loading dock surfaces are slippery, oily, or wet, employees can fall and potentially injure themselves. You can prevent this by regularly cleaning the floors in and around the loading dock. Instruct your employees to clean any spills immediately and warn co workers of any dangerous, slippery surfaces. Make sure your employees know how to properly clean a chemical spill, too, in case they ever need to.
Maintenance
Broken or cracked floors, walls, and tools can injure employees. Therefore, it is incredibly important that the loading dock is inspected often for any signs of damage. The damage should be sectioned off with bright tape or a warning sign before it is fixed, and it should be fixed at the earliest convenience. This way, none of your employees will be hurt by something that is easily preventable.
Prevent Falls
Make sure your employees understand the potential dangers of working on a loading dock. Instruct them to never run across a dock, to stay away from edges, and to wear shoes that are designed to resist slips. Your employees should never joke with each other on or around the loading dock, and they should not stay on or around the dock for longer than they need to. This will prevent falls and keep your employees safe.
Carbon Monoxide Monitors
If the loading dock is very enclosed, purchase carbon monoxide monitors. Carbon monoxide, an invisible and odourless gas, comes from engines and gathers in unventilated spaces. Exposure to carbon monoxide can be fatal. Your employees will not be able to check the carbon monoxide level in and around the loading dock without monitors. Keep a few monitors around in a clearly visible place so that employees can easily make sure they are safe.
Heavy Objects
Do not let your employees lift heavy pallets to and from the loading dock by themselves. Instruct them to always either ask for help or use the machinery provided by your company to safely move objects around the loading dock. If objects are light enough to carry, make sure your employees know to lift with their legs, not their backs. Also, you can provide gloves with a grip to keep objects from falling.
Communicate With Drivers
One of the most important things you can tell your employees to do is to communicate with the truck driver. First, you need a great way that the loading dock employees can communicate with the truck drivers. This can include speaking as well as hand signals when employees cannot be heard. Using wheel restraints and practising many safety tips will also help drivers and employees stay safe even when there is a mistake in communication.
How Do I Enforce Safety Rules?
To enforce these safety rules, keep everyone on the team accountable. Hold regular safety meetings where you and your entire team speak about things they are concerned about. Remind your team about the most important safety rules. Also, you can make a poster with many safety rules and hang it up in or around the loading dock so that your employees do not forget.
Many employers forget to tell their employees about loading dock safety. It is an important aspect of keeping employees safe on the job. Many loading dock accidents are completely preventable. Your employees will thank you for keeping everybody safe!
