A Dry Dock Is a Safe Dock

The dangers at loading docks are many: forklifts racing in and out of truck trailers and making sharp turns to avoid staged pallet loads, open doors that lead to 3-foot drops to the driveway below and stacked pallets that can tumble over on passersby. Perhaps the worst among these is the peril of wet, slick dock floors.

Statistics point to the dock being a danger zone, where 25 percent of accidents leading to injuries occur. According to research conducted at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, slips and falls accounted for 34 percent of workers' compensation claims, putting these incidents as the No. 2 leading cause for claims.

The costs of these claims add up. In 2007, the Liberty Mutual Safety Index revealed that these kinds of accidents cost the industry $6.6 billion annually. The study found that while the incidence of other injuries was dropping, the number of injuries caused by slips and falls was growing.

The problem is that there can be dozens of typical doorways along the dock, each creating 8-by-10-foot holes in the wall. These doors can permit moisture — rain and snow — to enter the area, mixing with dirt, debris and oil to create a dangerously slick surface. Additional moisture results when indoor/outdoor temperature differentials create condensation that drips to the floor. The moisture mixes with debris and oil, coating the floor surface.

OSHA regulation CFR 1910.22 distinctly recommends that floors should be kept clean and dry, which is a good, common-sense rule. Smart facilities practicing 5S and other strategies apply discipline to keep the dock floors clean and swooping in on spills and slicks when they happen.

But the dock's design and operation presents special challenges. Chief among them is the lack of time to stop traffic and wipe up the floor on busy docks. The additional problem of bringing the cleanup crew onto the dock adds an extra element of danger because it exposes them to forklift traffic.

Therefore, it is essential to prevent moisture from entering the dock in the first place, reducing the need to bring in the cleanup crew.

DOCK DOORS — ENSURING A CLOSED CASE

Almost anyone managing a dock knows that completely blocking these roughly 80-square-foot holes in the wall can be tough. Stroll past a typical dock door and the light shining between the door panels, around the doorframe and under the door is a sign that eventually, precipitation will find its way onto the dock.

Doors always are the first to suffer damage from the fast-moving forklifts that prowl the confined dock spaces. Collisions can damage doors outright, or the hammering can compromise their ability to seal the doorway. The resulting misalignment between the door panels and the doorframe creates gaps that enable the invasion of moisture.

Common dock doors with garage-style roller guides and light-gauge metal tracks cannot stand up to the beating. In some situations, replacing lower panels with “flex panels” will ensure the doorway is covered. Other times, management finds damage occurring at all points of the door and decides it is best to install a fully impactable dock door.

Impactable dock doors are built to stand up to both the occasional bump and the most severe collision. Rather than becoming damaged from the force of a major impact, the door panels release and easily can be set back in place.

Fully impactable models have the weatherseal attached to the door panel rather than the doorframe. The door and weatherseal can roll up out of harm's way, allowing the door to maintain a consistent seal.

Door guide or track design is another important element of sealing effectiveness. When traditional light-gauge metal tracks are hit by forklifts, they become deformed and can capture the guide rollers. The seized rollers make the door difficult to operate and tempt dock workers to leave the doorway open between truck loads to avoid back strain.