Ways to Prevent Accidents from Happening at the Loading Dock Facility in Durham, NC

Did you know that over 1.18 million people work at storage facilities and warehouses in the United States? As based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), dated March 2019, these workers are laborers, tractor and forklift truck operators, and freight stock, material movers, and handlers.

As more number Americans who work on these facilities grow and so are the number of workers who get injured in work-related hazards and accidents. In the related reports by BLS statistics, these warehouses environment can be dangerous for workers.         

Why is a loading dock a danger zone? 

According to statistics from BLS, in 2017, the latest in its warehouse injury statistics record- 22 fatalities at warehouses and storage facilities in the United States.

However, the statistical number of cases involving days away from work (DAFW) at a storage facility and warehouse workers increase by almost 3,000 cases between 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the total was 17,390.

Additionally, warehouse injuries occur when manual handling, or lifting, forklifts, conveyor belts, material storage, and loading dock areas.

What are the types of warehouse injuries?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) listed below the most common warehouse injuries in a variety of ways:

• Forklifts 
• Caught In-between
• Falls
• Hazardous Materials
• Hit by Something
• Loading Dock Areas
• Overexertion
• Trips and Slips
• Truck Accidents

What are the safety tips?

Accidents can be prevented by avoiding the conditions that lead to hazards. Knowing the occurrence or identifying the location of accidents is vitally important in preventing these hazards from happening in the first place.

1. Loading Dock Doors

With the fast-paced movements in the loading areas, dock doors are the most susceptible parts of the loading areas, from fast-moving forklifts. Vulnerable from collisions damaging them, or their ability to seal the doorway has been compromised. The resulting defect or deformity creates a space-gap in-between which gives moisture entry into the facility.     

Temporary solutions like “flex panels” may help, but with many occurrences and they don’t last long enough. However, most facility managers find impact doors as solutions. They are designed and engineered to stand up to the occasional impacts and bumps from product loads, forklifts, and even trailers.    

Ensuring safety is critical in high-speed industrial door environments. Passport Door and Dock System’s high-performance doors is an effective, intuitive, and completely customizable safety communication technology designed to increase threshold safety:

• Rytec Fast Seal Model FS1500
• Rytec Fast Seal FS1000
• Rytec Pharma Seal Door
• Mark IV™ VersaFlex™ Bi-Parting Power Operated Door
• Mark IV™ Bi-Parting Horizontal Sliding Power Operated Door
• Plyfoam II® Swing Doors
• Retail Pro™ Single Leaf Manually Operated Horizontal Sliding Door
• Plyfoam I® Swing Doors
• Mark IV™ Single Leaf Horizontal Sliding Manually Operated Door
• Hybrid: AC & CAC with Roll-up Doors
• Hybrid AC & CAC with VersaFlex™
• Model 3CAV Triple Conditioned Air Vestibule
• ASSD Fast-Acting Traffic Door
• Model DCAV Double Conditioned Air Vestibule
• Model ECAV Frost-Free Airlok-Door
• External Flexible Folding Doors T-Series
• Interior High-Speed Flexible Doors

2. Stopping Air Entry into your Facility

While standard pit-mounted dock levelers may provide trailer access for forklifts, the pit cut into the concrete allows space in between for moisture to seep through.

Economical solutions like company Serco Energy Guard™ a combination of seals and assemblies that provides effective sealing in between gaps around the rear and sides of the dock leveler, making a more superior and efficient perimeter seal at our Durham Industrial Fan Service Area Offices. 

Serco Energy Guard™

• Primary Seal Assemblies 
• Secondary Seal Assemblies 
• Rear Hinge Seal Assembly
• Vertical Seal Assemblies 
• Triangular Shaped Seal & Pocket Design

3. Door Seals and Shelters Change Things

Successful loading dock companies use door seals and shelters to keep moisture away from their loading dock areas, which provides closing the gap between the dock wall and the trailer. 

Dock seals are designed with fabric-covered foam pads that compress whenever the trailer backs into them, preventing entry of debris and other dirt. While dock shelters create a covering around the perimeter of the trailer and allowing full entry into the trailer interior.

Our Durham HVLS Fan service area office in Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Wilmington, Cary, NC, and surrounding cities, offers a variety of dock Shelters and dock seals models: 

Dock Shelters:

• Serco S2000 Ultra Seal w/ head curtain
• Serco S600 Dock Seal w/ fixed head pad
• Serco S3000L L-Pad Dock Seal
• Serco S800 Dock Seal w/ adjustable head pad
• Serco S700 Dock Seal w/ head curtain
• Serco S3000HL L-Pad Dock Seal w/ head curtain
• Serco S2500G Sliding Head Pad Dock Seal

Dock Seals:

• Serco S2200 Ultra Shelter

• Serco S3200 Snap-back Dock Shelter

• Serco S420 Rigid Frame Dock Shelter

• Serco R620 Mechanical Rail Shelter

4. Proper Circulation of Energy Air

Warehouses are susceptible to precipitation or condensation, where wet dock floors become accident-prone areas causing accidents and hazards like injuring workers, damaging products, and reducing productivity overall.

Our DurhamSerco HVLS Fans works to lessen the production of moisture in the air and helps keep floor drier and safer for your workers. As based on its acronym, these fans move big amount of air at low speeds, removing moisture and drying the facility floors.    

Passport Door offers four HVLS fan models to choose from: SERCO ATEC HVLS Fans, Serco ATEC Fan, KELLEY ATEC HVLS Fans, and EXPERIENCE C-CLASS models:

• SERCO ATEC HVLS Fans – designed with airfoil style five-blade design, these high-volume low-speed fans work hard to circulate efficiency and positively impact many areas within your facility.

• Serco ATEC Fan – The Serco Advanced Technology for Environmental Control HVLS fan, or simply, the ATEC HVLS fan is an advanced HVLS technology through controls, improved airflow, and energy savings.

• KELLEY ATEC HVLS Fans – These fans are designed to balance the internal environment with a gentle mass of air or “floor jet,” which creates a more even temperature to protect product integrity and prevent potential product spoilage.

• EXPERIENCE C-CLASS – A customizable Entrematic C-Class commercial fan, its lightweight, low-profile design makes it versatile enough to mount in a variety of spaces.

Passport Door and Dock System

One-Stop-Shop for Commercial door and loading dock equipment includes 24/7 Parts and Service.

• Full fleet of service and installation trucks

• Fully stocked warehouse

• Team of factory trained and fully qualified service technicians- some with over 25 years of experience

• Team of knowledgeable coordinators to take your call

OEM PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

• Minimize Downtime

• Maximize Productivity

• Stocked Inventory

• Parts Availability

PLANNED MAINTENANCE PROGRAM

• Protect Your Investment

• Reduce Lifetime Ownership Costs 

Preventing Raleigh, NC. loading dock accidents and hazards are difficult and complex. However, by choosing the right and proper equipment from the largest distributor in the world for the leading manufacturers of dock equipment and hi-speed doors company for your loading dock specific needs and requirements, you can achieve your goal from day one and avoiding the 25% of preventable accidents from happening. 

Passport Door and Dock Systems, a division of DuraServ Corp, has been serving the Central and Eastern North Carolina commercial door and dock needs from their Angier, NC headquarters, and branch in Farmville, NC since 1995. Between the two locations, Passport Door and Dock Systems can keep the commercial docks and doors in the Raleigh-Durham corridor working safely and efficiently.

To know more about us, please contact us directly at (919) 639-0334 and (252) 753-6100.
 
You can make a service request or visit us personally at our Service Areas: North Carolina, Angier, Farmville, Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Wilmington, Cary, NC, and surrounding cities.