Despite the many safety improvements to loading bay equipment over recent decades the number of accidents shows little sign of improvement and the loading bay undoubtedly remains the most dangerous part of any warehouse, the scene of more than one in four reported accidents involving workplace transport. Forklifts are implicated in most of these accidents and, like loading bay equipment, they too have enhanced their safety devices to a level that seems hardly likely to be excelled much more. Examples include Toyota’s System of Active Stability and Jungheinrich’s similar answer to stability, Curve Control. Yet the majority of injuries and deaths are not to truck drivers but pedestrians working around them. This proves that the solution to the long-term safety problem is procedural and must encompass passive equipment and good housekeeping.
There is a delicate balancing act here between the need to observe safety and achieve the necessary handling throughput rates, an exercise not always helped by truck makers selling techniques based on the ability of their trucks to offer high throughput speeds. To be fair to truck suppliers they now offer speed limiters to allow only warehouse managers/supervisors to set the desired maximum speed but evidence suggests that truck drivers ignore or over-ride the system to avoid travel speed restrictions. This is an example of procedural risks.
Top safety accolades for loading bay activities will go to those who take a holistic view of the operation, and for new premises that starts with the planning of layouts, because badly-designed warehouses, along with behavioural factors, are to blame for most forklift accidents. Once layout is well planned it is then important to equip the loading bay with passive devices like adequate lighting for all ages of forklift drivers, parabolic mirrors and clearly-marked floor lanes designated for pedestrians only. The subject of lighting is important because a 60-year old driver needs six times as much light as a 20-year old to discern objects clearly and quite often drivers do not see the pedestrians they hit.
Obviously, training is key to improving safety but good housekeeping is not inconsequential either. Debris left lying around on the floor, pot-holed and slippery floors not only cause accidents but also serious damage to transport, racking and stored goods. They can also lead to long-term health problems caused by ‘dock-shock’, any form of jarring that can occur when trucks run over potholes and the link between warehouse floor and vehicle trailer beds at the dock-leveller interface.
All loading bay managers should be aware that accidents will almost invariably soar at certain times of the year, like September in the run up to hectic Christmas trading. This is when extra care is needed when hiring temporary staff for any function. Warehouse managers must ensure that temporary staff agencies have obtained all the facts necessary, with proof to back their enquires, on the competence of truck drivers, in particular. A notable number of loading bay accidents have involved temporary staff whose native tongue was not English and so they may not be able to fully understand safety signs. A safe loading bay operation will involve a safety induction exercise for all newly-arrived temporary staff.
A loading bay can have the cat’s whiskers of safety devices at the dock but they will not prevent potential accidents lurking within shipping containers, in particular. The fact is that poorly-packed containers are one of logistics cardinal sins and money considerations are partly to blame. Loading bay staff, therefore, should stand well clear when opening vehicle/container doors. Only when all these procedural arrangements are fully implemented will the unacceptable accident rates on the loading bays begin to fall meaningfully.
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