Safety up, costs down with dock equipment upgrade
Easy-to-use hydraulic dock levelers replace mechanical levelers, maximizing safety and minimizing costs for third party distributor Ozburn-Hessey Development.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/1999
Third party distributor Ozburn-Hessey Development, the real estate development division of Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, credits safety and low operating costs at the loading dock as key factors in its success. The company builds, leases, and operates some four million square feet of warehouse space. To continue its tradition of safety and low operating costs, Ozburn-Hessey installed new hydraulic dock levelers to replace mechanical levelers."Our concept in designing buildings is to provide operationally efficient space with low maintenance equipment," says Rick Shepard, vice president of operations. "When we install a piece of equipment, we want to know we won't have to go back and repair it a year from now."
The most obvious benefit received from the hydraulic levelers is their ease of use. Workers no longer strain their backs reaching down to pull a chain to release a mechanical board or retract mechanical support legs.
In addition, the hydraulic leveler safely adapts to different trailer bed heights because there are no mechanical legs to interfere with the leveler's movement. This unrestricted "free-float" throughout the leveler's full service range eliminates the "stump-out" problem all mechanical and power-assisted levelers struggle with. The company's levelers now compensate for trailer bed fluctuations by floating freely as the leveler platform moves from above to below dock height.
Eliminating the need for mechanical safety legs, the dock leveler features a hydraulic velocity free-fall safety system. The system stops the fall of the leveler's platform within three inches in the event of an unexpected trailer departure with a heavy load on the platform.
In addition, the leveler's seven foot width provides maneuvering space for lift trucks and end-loading trailers. On standard six-foot wide levelers, lift trucks inserting the last loads on trailers often sustained tire damage from running over the leveler's edge or rubbing against the pit wall.
Rite-Hite Corporation 800-456-0600
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