Pallet loads and cases in and out. That's what so many people think tells the full story at receiving and shipping docks. But what gets overlooked so many times is what can be done to identify and meet the many ergonomic challenges that directly impact a dock's productivity.

To begin, there's more to designing an ergonomic dock than safely and efficiently loading trucks, according to Brent Tymensky, vice president of design engineering for Fortna Inc. (615-376-1900)

"You start with solutions based on how your product comes in," says Tymensky. "You have to look at everything from what kind of trailer you're going to receive, to whether the load is floor-loaded or unitized to what happens to it after it comes off the truck. Even the temperature inside the facility and the weather are important."

The solutions for the ergonomic dock fall into several categories that address each of those areas. Dock equipment, conveyors and lift tables are three prominent equipment types that effect dock ergonomics.

Maintaining the right temperature in a facility may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of dock safety. However, keeping out the cold, heat, rain, wind and snow ultimately makes for a more ergonomic dock, says Greg O'Neal, president of Air-locke Dock Seal (800-538-2388).

The right dock plate (left) and vehicle restraint can minimize the shock experienced by lift truck drivers (right) when they enter or exit a trailer.

"The dock seals not only keep rain and snow off the dock, they can generate a one-year payback on energy savings alone," says O'Neal.

The type of door may also play a role. One trend is fully impactable dock doors, says Mike Brittingham, marketing and communications manager of SPX Dock Products (866-696-2464). "Impactable doors are designed to pop out of the track if they're hit by a lift truck or trailer to minimize damage," he explains. "They can easily be put back in the track and are always accessible."

One of the biggest potential dock dangers is the premature exiting of trailers. That's when a driver pulls a trailer away from the dock while an operator is still on the trailer.

To prevent this danger, vehicle restraints hold the trailer in place. A variety of solutions—from simple blocks that go behind the trailer wheels to automated solutions that bolt to the cement dock and grip the rear impact guard of the trailer—are available.

"Regardless of the solution, they're all meant to hold the trailer in place," says Tim Wolfe, engineering manager of W.B. McGuire Co., a division of Overhead Door (800-624-8473).

An emerging restraint is a trapped key interlocking device. In these systems, a driver attaches a device to the emergency air line setting on the trailer brakes. A uniquely coded key is then inserted into a control panel that notifies an operator inside the facility that it's safe to open the dock door. When that happens, the key is locked in the control panel.

The driver can't get the key to unlock the device from the air line to drive away until loading or unloading is finished and the operator inside the building puts the dock door back down.

"An interlocking device forces a procedural process to prevent accidents," says Michael Boyle, the North American representative for Salvo, a division of Castell Interlocks (724-816-8223). "The trailer can't pull away until the dock ramp is inside the building."

Vehicle restraints hold a trailer in place and prevent the premature departure of a trailer from the dock.

Bridging the gap

The transition area from the warehouse onto the trailer is another important area of concern for both operator safety and ergonomics, according to Joe Manone, vice president of marketing for Rite-Hite Corp. (800-456-0600).

"Hitting the dock plate is the biggest bump a lift truck driver will experience during the day," says Manone. "There's also a shock we call dock shock when the trailer drops from the weight of the lift truck."

To reduce that bump and make the transition from the dock to the trailer as smooth as possible, manufacturers have redesigned dock levelers. "Levelers may range in length from six feet to 15 feet and the lip crown can be varied as well to capture the variety of trailer bed heights out there," says W.B. McGuire's Wolfe.

Some vehicle restraints can minimize the trailer drop. "For instance, a vehicle restraint can support the rear of the trailer," Manone says. "That eliminates the drop when you bring a lift truck onto the trailer. And since there's less vertical movement, you don't wear out your dock seals as fast."

Given the variety of levelers, restraints, dock seals and doors that might come into play at any one dock, one trend is to combine all of those functions onto one control panel.

"That saves you on installation because everything is integrated into one panel," says SPX's Brittingham. "Another benefit is that you can interlock the operations so that they happen in the sequence they should happen."

Not all trailers, however, are unloaded with lift trucks. Cartons and product floor loaded onto trailers are still handled manually. For those facilities, portable conveyor systems can make loading and unloading both efficient and ergonomic, according to Les Paul, vice president of sales for Caljan America (414-355-2600).

"These conveyors can reach into a trailer, plus they are adjustable," says Paul. "That allows an operator to work at an ergonomic height regardless of whether the cartons are stacked to the ceiling or picked up off the floor."

Three types of conveyors are typically used at the dock.

• Extendable loader systems are the simplest. These use manual roller conveyors. The angle of the conveyor can be adjusted up or down to allow gravity to move cartons.
• Fixed-length conveyor, also known as drive-out conveyor, uses power-driven belts for loading and unloading, but they are not adjustable.
• Telescoping conveyors are belt-driven for loading and unloading. Unlike fixed-length conveyors, they automatically extend or retract like a telescope, which makes them a flexible, space-saving option on the dock, but also the most expensive.

Staging areas are also important areas of attention on the ergonomic dock.

"If you have unitized loads, handling them is easy," according to Jim Galante, director of business development for Southworth Products (800-743-1000). "It's when products and pallets have to be manually handled that ergonomics is important." Typically, that happens if product has to be manually palletized or repalletized before loading or putaway.

One device used at the shipping dock is a pallet inverter that rotates a load 180 degrees. That allows an operator to easily remove a broken pallet or a leased pallet that has to be returned and replace it with another pallet for shipping or storage. With the new pallet in place, the load is simply rotated back to its original position.

Pallet position devices are used to keep a pallet in the correct ergonomic height as a load is palletized. Or, for working with tall loads, a facility may install a platform that allows a worker to work on the top of the load without reaching and twisting.

Regardless of the area of the dock, all of these solutions are designed to keep workers safe and ergonomic while optimizing the flow of goods on to and off of the over-the-road truck.