A positive commitment to safety in and around the loading
bay can help firms save money and provide long-term
peace of mind, according to John Meale,MD of loading/
unloading equipment specialist – Thorworld Industries

While the Government has initiated
a Red Tape Challenge seeking
views on health and safety
legislation, Thorworld Industries has issued a
reminder that it is in the interest of all
businesses not to wait for official guidance
but to take a proactive approach to protect
workers and resources. Thorworld, an
accredited SAFEcontractor member, is
maintaining its own safety initiative, focusing
on the vehicle loading and unloading area.

Potentially this is one of the
most hazardous areas in any
company, warehouse or
distribution centre. Yet
despite the existence of an
extensive range of safety
equipment to protect against
accidents, the company
continues to see examples of
poor practice.

John Meale says: “It
astonishes me to see
businesses operating without
a robust loading and
unloading area safety strategy.

Sometimes, a firm will
discover the limitations of
their procedures the hard
way, after somebody has been
injured. For others, their
loading and unloading areas are an accident
waiting to happen.”
Thorworld says the threat of legal
comeback is not the only aspect of a sound
health and safety policy. Aside from ‘duty of
care’ considerations, there are economic
imperatives for investing in safety
equipment. Some of the costs associated with
an accident can be measured immediately in
terms of damage and downtime, but longerterm
implications – such as higher insurance
premiums or the threat of legal action –
aren’t always obvious.

Meale says that as soon as a loading dock
door is opened, and a trailer pushed towards
the dock, the scope for accidents increases.

For this reason, Thorworld’s Dockprotecta
range of loading bay safety equipment
includes dock & vehicle bumpers (including
a sliding nylon dock bumpers), wheel
chocks, safety bollards, wheel guides and
alignment curbs, vehicle restraints, signs and
mirrors, trailer safety locks and supports,
speed ramps, column/racking protectors and
dock and traffic lights.

Equally important, vehicle movement
must be controlled and, where possible,
neutralised entirely to prevent lift tucks and
personnel falling off the back of trailers, or
becoming trapped or crushed. Thorworld
provides a wide range of products to prevent
vehicle creep. A simple and affordable
solution is its Chock-it wheel chock which is
positioned in front of the wheels to stop
movement. Another method of preventing
unintentional pull-aways is via a trailer safety
lock which is fitted to a parked trailer once
the air hose has been disconnected; this then
prevents the driver connecting the trailer and
driving away. For even greater vehicle and
personnel safety, Thorworld offers the
vehicle wheel lock, which prevents driveaway
accidents during loading and
unloading and reduces the possibility of
theft.

Some of these safety solutions can be
specified with sensors that warn of any
unanticipated motion and which can be
integrated to other devices in the loading bay
such as traffic lights. Meale comments: “As
technology is developing, integrated
electronic systems are becoming a popular
means of co-ordinating safety procedures
across multiple pieces of equipment.”
Another hazard – and possibly one of the
most dangerous – is when a vehicle trailer,
without its cab, tips forward. This can
happen if the standard landing legs fail and
when the vehicle has been loaded incorrectly,
or when empty it becomes unbalanced.

Thorworld says preventing this is relatively
easy due to technology such as its trailer
safety support.

Health and safety is not limited to
dramatic one-off incidents. The potential
exists for extreme operating temperatures to
have long-term adverse effects on personnel
– and potentially on products, if for example
the warehouse is handling perishable goods.

Items such as inflatable dock seals help to
maintain a consistent, safe
temperature, while dock
bumpers prevent sustained
damage to both vehicles and
the building infrastructure.

Investing in equipment is
not in itself enough to
guarantee a safe working
environment. Numerous
standards and directives
applicable to good practice
in installation and operation
must be adhered to.

Employees must receive
appropriate training.

Thorworld offers a range of
training programmes to
help customers master the
safe and efficient handling
of its loading bay
equipment. It advises that before any
investment is made a company should
perform a health and safety audit to identify
potential hazards, and recommends a new
publication by The European Materials
Handling Federation which offers advice on
how to control safety issues. ‘Guidance on
safety on/around a vehicle loading area’ is
available at http://tinyurl.com/FEM-loadingsafety,
under ‘Free Technical Documents’ and
will be updated as standards and directives
change, and new technologies are launched.