Ep. #31: Safety Meeting Topics for Warehouse Workers

This episode of Write from the Source features Zach Anhorn, original sales vice president with WrightHype. Important safety topics at the loading dock and inside the facility. Yeah. You're listening to right from the source, expert insights on productivity, energy savings, and environmental control.

You are listening to Right from the Source and on today's podcast, we have Zach Anhorn visiting. So Zach, first give us your title, years in the industry, any kind of work background that might be relevant. Sure, yeah. Zach Anhorn. I'm the regional sales vice president here at Right Height, uh manage a couple different groups around the country.

Been in the industry now for almost ten years. So I've been around a while. I've been a couple different positions before I got to regional sales vice president. So been really good so far. Any hobbies or passions outside of work? Um deer hunting, uh bird hunting, that kind of thing. And then uh summertime I like to spend a lot of time with my family out on the house.

So today's topic, well we've got you here today, is to talk about safety meeting topics for warehouse workers. Obviously safety is is paramount at any facility and especially in operations that handle heavy products or have a lot of material handling machinery. So I'd like to begin our discussion with one of the more dangerous parts of any facility, which is the loading die.

So can you tell the listeners a little bit about loading dock safety, maybe some challenges there? You know the loading dock environment is a very busy, busy place. There's multiple things going on at the same time. Uh you've got, you know, pedestrians, PITs, fork trucks. all interacting in the same space. And certainly when you have that much going on, there's there's a lot of potential for risk.

And risk comes in all different uh shapes and sizes at the loading dock. Certainly potential for people to impact each other uh working in the same area. the risk of what happens at the loading dock when a trailer decides to leave unannounced or, you know, somebody does something that is unsafe and and kinda what are the reactions when it comes. You know, I think safety managers today having to train their their workforce is obviously an important thing to kinda

build that safety culture in the specific loading dock area. But some of the challenges there I think are in the workforce today it's it's very difficult to hire and keep people. You know, there's a lot of turnover, and that turnover results in a lot of people at the loading dock who may not be familiar with what's going on and the risks that are present.

So obviously with you know you you try to instill all those safety programs and make sure that all those workers understand the correct procedures. correct process for these operations, which can be dangerous. Are there pieces of equipment? Are there safety solutions that can be really integrated into the loading deck itself to

Not make it completely foolproof but easier and and uh can you speak to maybe some of those products? Yeah, yeah. At right height, you know, we focus a lot on the loading dock and specifically loading dock safety. Both inside and outside the facility. When you think about inside the facility, we've got some some products that help minimize those risks and really maximize the safety. First and foremost is the dock lock vehicle. Right. an industry uh that we've been in since the uh early eighties.

It's been something that over the time we've spent in that specific market, we've transformed what we did to where we are today because of the changing environments and the different things that are associated with the safety risk at the dock. You know, certainly a vehicle restraints designed to keep the trailer at the loading dock to provide clear communication for both the truck driver as well as the uh dock attendant.

So that's first and foremost. Some additional features that kinda go along with the vehicle restraint or could potentially be standalone features are right view hazard recognition features. So You know, we've got uh a few different styles, things that clearly communicate red and green lights for the dock attendants on the inside of the building, whether it's you know, in the corners of the overhead door or put in the channel on the edge of the dock leveler that that helps clearly

provide that communication when the the dock attendants inside the trailer. Also dock commanders. Dock commanders are the brains of the control box.

of the loading dock, right? So oftentimes you'll see dock levelers, you'll see overhead doors, dock lights, dock vehicle restraints, those types of things all tied into one control box and by utilizing that control box you really open up the opportunity to create a safe sequence of operation which basically walks anybody through the safest way to operate a

Right. So you know, there's there's really very, very little risk that it can be done incorrectly and that any of those safety systems can be So that's that's, you know, a a strong way to kinda make sure that your folks are safe, whether they're a new person at the loading dock or they've been there for fifty. And then finally, Doc Guardian. Doc Guardian's a big one for us protecting that uh four foot fall-off that's associated with the first thing.

you know, all loading docks being able to prevent not only fork trucks but pedestrians from falling off the edge of that dock is uh obviously a very important you know, safety hazard and risk that falls

So uh the outdoor area itself can be dangerous as well. What kinds of considerations should safety managers make in regards to the drive approach? Sure. I mean that's that's one that you don't often think about immediately. You know, there's obviously a lot of things going on inside, but what goes on outside you don't necessarily see.

Right. So you've got trailers, trucks that are moving in all different directions, trying to park at loading docks, trying to get out of the yard so they can get the the product delivered to to its next stop and so on and so forth.

But uh when you're standing out on the loading dock, it's a very loud environment. And occasionally you'll you'll be standing at the dock and there'll be a trailer on one side, a trailer on the other, and you know your potential to hear that trailer as it backs into that position.

So some of those products that we've developed to try to prevent and reduce that risk, first is is our approach view, which is a motion sensing device that's mounted above the loading dock seal or shelter that Designed to pick up that trailer backing in from seventy five feet.

Less, which translates into an audible alarm as well as uh flashing light on the loading dock to alert anybody that's in there working, potentially surveying or whatever they're doing, that there's an approaching trailer back. So, you know, that along with our lock view system can help give a better picture of what's going on on the outside of the dock so you can make better safety judgment from the inside of the dock.

So we've talked a little bit about the outside now, bringing it back inside. Uh obviously a lot of facilities are using forklifts uh or other kinds of material handling equipment to to move these products, but the forklift itself uh as well as you know what it's carrying is gonna be very heavy in a lot of instances and can create potential hazards for employees who are working on foot.

So what kind of protocols and equipment should safety managers consider uh as it relates to to forklifts and indoor traffic? Yeah, I think you know, there's a lot of different things being done on the market today. The dangers of that fork truck pedestrian collisions around our working environments inside these facilities is is very, very strong and and you're gonna see a lot of uh interaction So one thing that we've seen over the past decade or so is the increasing existence of blue light.

Now these blue lights are designed really just to give you a visual communication that the fork truck is traveling in a direction wherever that blue light is going, right? So We kinda took that idea and expanded upon that and kinda how we do that at the dock and and we we have a pedestrian view product that that is more revolving around the loading dock itself, but also a couple other products like safety signal that is projecting a blue light on the ground when there's more than one

pedestrian or more than one fork truck or a combination of the both to let everybody know that hey you're approaching a blind area and the blue lights there to to help them recognize that they need to pay attention to what's going on and make good judgments. Yeah, it sounds like a that would be a great, great option for racking or aisles or any kind of like you said, blind area, corner um that you can

That you can't see. I know the the mirrors are always kinda you know, up in facilities, but this kind of takes it to the next level and you people are becoming very familiar with that blue light. Right. Yeah, and it's good you mentioned the uh Communication at the the pallet racking. We've just come out with a a product called the Safety View that does mount right to the edge of that pallet racking.

That picks up multiple directional traffic, right? So if you're thinking about a facility, you might have a main thoroughfare uh that's going through the entire facility. And certainly a lot of traffic, whether it's pedestrian, PITs, occasionally you'll see golf carts. And being able to provide that person that's standing in that pallet rack aisle, the communication that somebody's approaching, that's what that safety view is designed for.

and really something that you know you mentioned the the glass domes that you see in the ceiling, just taking that to the next step, right? We want to be able to provide communication that's upfront and everybody recognizes it immediately. They don't have Now a lot of warehouses and and again I feel like they're they're kind of low tech, easy options where if everybody looks at that mirror there, if everybody looks at the painted yellow lines and follows and stays within those like

Safety is gonna be good, but the reality is, you know, how often is that really happening? Are yellow lines enough? I mean what's your what's your response to to that?

Yeah, I think yellow lines, they do a good job of of helping people understand where they need to be. But I don't think they do a good job keeping people where they're supposed to be. You know, so we always talk about taking that yellow line and raising it, right? And there's multiple ways to do that. You know, certainly we've got a wide array of product that can help you. you know, if you you talk about the different types of barriers, there's there's obviously, you know, three

Main types. First foremost, probably the one you see most often in a facility is a fixed barrier or a steel barrier. Occasionally you might see uh a vinyl or a different style of But something that is anchored into the concrete that is an entire purpose is to protect either pedestrian or fork truck from impacting each other or potentially. Production equipment or whatever it might be, but that's going to be the way to kind of try to separate that and permanently.

Now, you know, in today's world where the square footage of a building is so valuable You know, we've got a lot of customers that are eager to provide that barrier between the two. but also still have the ability to utilize that square footage for another purpose, right? So for example, maybe it's not as busy during the evening shift. and storing pallets and staging pallets in this specific area might be appropriate at that point, but during the day we definitely have to have a barrier.

That's where we can come in, you know, with automated barriers or retractable barriers that are are really designed to be very flexible in how the client wants to utilize.

You know, it it just helps maximize the safety while also giving the ability to still use it for other things, right? So um those are some of And then a as far as OSHA, I mean obviously Every facility manager, safety manager wants to be, I think, safety thinking, forward thinking, but OSHA obviously has a number of regulations and uh those facility managers need to stay on top. Are there any general ones that really all any kind of uh facility manager should be aware of or any

Specific ones uh that you want to mention here today? Yeah, I think you know the most prevalent today i is probably still the walking working services. This is something that came out a few years ago, which is designed to protect employees. from four foot fall off. Uh and that's really regardless of where they are in the Right. So they could be up on a mezzanine, they could be on a ladder.

uh most relevant to to us is is obviously the loading dock environment. And typical loading dock height is at forty eight inches. So most every one of those doors has to comply with the OSHA mandate of the Walking Working Service. And I think that's something that that our customers know because it's been around But I still think that there's a lot of opportunity for our clients to take that to the next

It used to be something where a chain would work, right? And now it's you know, a combination of four different styles and a netting barrier being probably the most appropriate for that. But you know, that's one OSHA regulation that Very prevalent in our industry. The other thing I'll say too, you know, if you're if you're planning a safety meeting and you want to discuss some of those OSHA requirements.

is they have a an OSHA pocket guide and it's something that's uh available on the OSHA website that does a really good job of explaining, you know, the most common areas in a facility. and you know, how you better protect yourself or how you minimize the risks around those Just a real brief I don't know how many pages it is exactly, but um

It gives everybody a good understanding. So if you had new uh employees in the facility that maybe weren't familiar with a loading dock, or if you're looking for that safety topic, I think it's a great place to start. And maybe just focus in on a couple for for a meeting and and see what we're doing.

Oh, that's a great tip, Zach. Is there anything regarding safety at uh the loading deck that you feel like we missed that you did wanna cover? No, I I think we covered it pretty good today. All right, excellent. Well, Zach, we appreciate you being on the show. For our listeners, be sure to follow RightHide on all social media platforms and visit right.com for additional information or to connect with a team member.

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