How to Achieve Total Dock Safety
Safe and efficient loading and unloading of materials in loading docks is crucial in all industrial facilities. This heavily trafficked area is particularly dangerous because of the fast-paced environment, with workers focused on moving products in and out of the facility as quickly as possible.
Here’s some of our newest innovations at work, saving lives at the loading dock. Check out the Rite-Vu System Here
According to Work Safe, a total of 95 workplace fatalities were reported from March 2017 to March 2018 across New Zealand and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that approximately 35,000 injuries are caused by forklifts and other powered industrial equipment each year and about 25% of all warehouse injuries reported occur on the loading dock. With that said, the OSHA also estimate that as much as 70% of those accidents would have been preventable with appropriate controls in place.
Inside the dock area, Pedestrian-Vu uses motion-sensing technology to trigger a bright blue light that projects onto the dock leveler when it detects material handling equipment or a pedestrian’s presence inside the trailer. Pedestrian-Vu also works in conjunction with Dok-Lok® products to alert any dock worker or forklift that enters an unsecured trailer. The blue light flickers as an audible alarm alerts the unsuspecting dock worker that they’ve entered an unsecured trailer, while the external light system simultaneously changes to red, warning the truck driver that there is activity inside the trailer.
Outside the dock opening, from a fixed location above the dock door, the new Approach-Vu sensor detects the motion of a tractor-trailer backing into a dock position. A visual and audible alarm located on the Dok-Lok vehicle restraint alerts dock workers and pedestrians in the drive approach of the impending danger. This multisensory alert system is particularly important because ambient noise often masks the sound of a cab’s noisy engine, which can be 70 feet or more from the back of the trailer.The complete four-part Rite-Vu system features Corner-Vu™, Leveler-Vu™, and the newest technologies, Approach-Vu and Pedestrian-Vu. This combination of components uses motion detection, line-of-sight notification, and audible alarms to provide hazard recognition and communication to people on and off of forklifts. Working in tandem, these safety tools help create a safer more productive loading dock environment, both inside and outside, by keeping people a step ahead of the potential dangers in their path.
Check out the Rite-Vu System Here
