OSHA: Intro to Loading Dock Safety

Key Takeaways:

– Learning about the common hazards found on loading docks.
– Understanding controls and actions which can improve safety on loading docks.

Course Description

This course will provide a high-level overview of common hazards encountered on loading docks, transit vehicles, and the areas between the two. As well, this lesson will create awareness of these hazards and teach you about how to avoid accidents and/or injuries.

All employees involved with loading and unloading materials need to be instructed in safe procedures appropriate to the material they handle. One of the most hazardous operations likely to be undertaken at any manufacturing or storage facility is truck or rail tank car loading or the unloading of flammable/combustible liquids. Employees loading or unloading suspension-type highway trailers can be at an increased risk of injury due to the inability of damaged trailers to bear the weight of the powered industrial truck used to load and unload the trailer. Across the trucking industry, Powered Industrial Trucks, 29 CFR 1910.178, is the most commonly cited standard for your safety. Numerous fatalities happen when a worker is squashed by a forklift that has overturned or fallen from a loading dock.

It is important to note that OSHA has jurisdiction over off-highway loading and unloading, including areas like warehouses, plants, grain handling facilities, retail locations, marine terminals, wharves, piers, and shipyards. As well, OSHA has jurisdiction in airport terminals unless the FAA has negotiated an airport manual and safety plan with a carrier that preempts OSHA’s jurisdiction. No matter the location, OSHA has jurisdiction over all forklift operators and terminal employees who perform loading and unloading operations.