Dock and Trailer Safety

John Newquist

Draft 11 30 2013

Nov 2013

• A FedEx worker died Wednesday after he got pinned between a truck and a loading dock in Shawnee

• In March, a man died in that parking lot after being crushed under a trailer. Witnesses said the victim fell under the wheels of a trailer pulling out of the FedEx lot.

How Bad is the Problem?

• 11 of these dock fatalities have occurred this year – Bryan Haywood

• www.safteng.net

• LOADING DOCK Serious Accident involving UPS Worker (worker, 19, was taken to a hospital WITH LIFE-THREATENING INJURIES after he was crushed by a truck around 6:30 - it appears that he was probably assisting or engaging a truck coming to the loading bay - he was caught in the middle between the truck and the loading bay walls or doors which caused him to be crushed)

General Rules

• “If I can't see their mirrors = they can't see me.”

General Rules

• Back up alarms in most cases are a FALSE sense of safety.

• Many trucks backing up to many doors at most of these loading docks AND when the horn is on the tractor some 50' away from the back of the trailer, they are often challenged to hear them with the background noise emanating from the warehouse.

• These back-up alarms become nothing but "nuisance alarms" to workers when they hear them all day on trucks and forklifts thus the brain begins to filter out these tones as merely background noise. – Bryan Haywood

General Rules

• I think the best approach is a comprehensive dock safety program tailored to a specific facility's needs and traffic patterns.

• Actual verification by the driver or reliable communication to the driver by another means that no one is in the danger zone when a vehicle is moving or has the potential to move is critical.

• The problem with a marker is that it can be moved or pulled in error - which unfortunately has happened.

• Many backing up crush accidents have occurred because the person at the dock was trying to see or communicate with the driver and doesn't appreciate the hazard of their own position.

• In my opinion, it is not an intuited danger, and workers need to be shown/taught the hazard.

• Kind of like teaching kids not to run out between parked cars.

• But with a good program, they should not be allowed in the danger zone to begin with. – Misette Kobler

IL Accidents – Struck by Trailer• August 4, 2003• Temporary employee

was killed when his head was pinned and crushed between the back of a 53-foot trailer and the wall of a loading dock.

What is your procedures to back up trucks?

IL Accidents - Liftgate• April 20, 2000

• Unloading a 1400 lb. computers from truck to the lift gate.

• Pallet truck wheel goes over the lift gate causing the computer to tip.

• Temporary worker tried to push it up onto lift gate and is crushed.

What is your procedure to unload heavy boxes?

IL Accidents – Forklift Leaves Dock• November 1, 2000

• An employee was driving a forklift truck in reverse. She backed off of the receiving dock and was pinned under the forklift. Operator was not wearing seatbelt and the forklift didn't have a overhead guard.

IL Accidents – Storage Rack Collapse

• January 16, 2002

• Company wants to clean up fallen batteries on upper storage rack.

• Employee rides a pallet to top. He loses balance on unsecured grating and falls through the storage rack. What could be done

differently?

IL Accidents – Struck by load• October 21, 2001

• An employee was moving a load from the dock to the warehouse driving a lift truck with two pallets of material weighing 1,176 pounds. He took the turn too fast in reverse and the material fell off the forklift truck striking an employee.

What facts would you want to know in this case?

IL Accidents – Tanker Truck Fall• February 21, 2001

• Employee #1 was working on top of a tanker truck about 12 feet off the ground. He was monitoring the washing of the inside of the tanker truck. Employee #1 fell from the top of the tanker truck and suffered severe head injury. Access platforms prevent

fall from trailers.

Dock Lights

• Dock lights will add visibility in the trailer.

Wheel Chocks

• Wheel chocks should be ¼ of the wheel height.

Dock Bumpers

• Dock bumpers must have slots in them to allow dockplates inserted.

• Inspect bumpers for wear.

• Violation: No way to insert dockplate if truck was flush to dock bumper.

How a Dock Trailer Restraint System Works

(used with permission by Rite-Hite Corp.)

Inside Control DOK-LOK Outside Lights

Future

Further

• Thanks to Misette Kobler in the Aurora OSHA office for all her investigations and help. She is one of the best in the dock safety area.

• Bryan Haywood contributed the recent fatalities and thoughts on Facebook.

• Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in, and Slideshare.