You can even make it easier on yourself by adding an A Plus Warehouse conveyor - allowing you to slide the product right into the truck from your dock lift. You may well want to order dock lifts from A Plus Warehouse with integral truck lips. With this product, a lip deploys directly into the truck opening, eliminating the need for heavy dock plates or dock boards in the case of forklift use. There are some accessories that should be ordered so you have a complete dock lift system.
A mechanical dock barricade will keep a gate closed so that a forklift can not fly out the door until a truck backs in and the operator hits a button to bring the gate up. This along with a trailer lock is a life saver. If a truck moves when a worker is loading or unloading, a disaster can easily happen. With a trailer locked down, the truck is going no where until your operator says it can. The alternative to the trailer lock are wheel chocks that require people to actually use them. Deploying a wheel check is too easy of a task to forget. Another often overlooked item is the trailer jack. Let’s say that a truck pulls back to one of your dock lifts, then leaves its trailer – so then driver can do other work as you load or unload.
This is common in many companies, as the loading / unloading can be time consuming, and truckers charge when their employees have to wait. There are two legs on the bottom of trailers known as landing gear. The entire weight of the trailer is supported by the landing gear when the truck leaves the trailer at your dock lift. Imagine now what would happen if the landing gear fails. The front of the trailer immediately drops 4-5 feet to the ground – and you can well imagine what happens to any person in the trailer. A simple mult hundred dollar item to prevent this is the trailer jack. A trailer jack is placed under the trailer then screwed until the top plate touches the truck. This takes the stress off the landing gear.
In dock lift applications and loading dock application in general, every company should have a safety plan in place taking full advantage of A Plus Warehouse equipment. If you need help in ordering dock lifts or any material handling item, please call 800-209-8798 for additional help.
