Docks concentrate the most dangerous things in a warehouse into the smallest space: moving trailers, forklifts, a four-foot drop and people working between all three. The injuries follow a pattern, which means the prevention does too. These twelve practices cover the incidents that happen most, and the equipment that backs each one up.
Trailer creep and early departure
1. Restrain every trailer before anyone enters it. A trailer that creeps forward under forklift impact, or a driver who pulls away early, leaves a forklift falling into the gap. Automatic vehicle restraints lock the trailer to the dock and release from inside the building. Where restraints are not installed, wheel chocks are the minimum, and someone has to confirm they are placed.
2. Use light communication. Red and green lights inside and out tell the driver when the trailer is secured and when it is safe to pull away. It takes the conversation out of the yard.
3. Control the keys or the driver. Some sites hold the trailer keys or require the driver to check in inside the building before the dock crew starts. Pick a system and enforce it.
Falls from the dock edge
4. Protect open positions. An empty dock position is a four-foot drop with nothing in front of it. Dock guards, barriers or a closed door on every position not in use.
5. Keep the leveler stored when the position is empty. A leveler left extended over an empty position is a ramp to nowhere.
6. Mark the edge. Yellow paint on the dock edge, the leveler edge and the pit perimeter, refreshed as it wears.
Forklift traffic
7. Separate pedestrians from forklifts. Marked walkways, physical barriers where possible, and a rule that pedestrians do not enter a trailer while a forklift is working in it.
8. Match the leveler to the forklift. A leveler rated below the loaded weight of the forklift will flex, fail or tip the load. Check the rating plate against the heaviest truck on the floor.
9. Inspect the trailer floor before driving in. Rotten boards, missing sections and debris cause more forklift incidents inside trailers than the leveler does.
Visibility
10. Light the trailer and the apron. Dock lights aimed into the trailer, apron lighting for night receiving, and lights that actually work. A dark trailer hides a broken floor.
11. Keep the dock clear. Stretch wrap, broken pallets and dunnage on the leveler are trip and tip hazards. Clear it between trailers, not at the end of the shift.
Equipment condition
12. Inspect and maintain the dock on a schedule. Restraints that do not lock, levelers that drift, doors that bind and bumpers that are gone all remove a layer of protection. A documented preventive maintenance program keeps the equipment doing the job it was installed to do.
Train it, then check it
Equipment only works when people use it. Train every dock worker and every visiting driver on the site's restraint procedure, the light system and the rule for entering a trailer. Then audit it. Walk the dock at the start of a shift and see whether the restraint lights are green before the forklift moves.
