Blog

Often when we face the inevitable, we find whatever it is could have been prevented. Perhaps the most valuable time to pay attention to facilities maintenance is when everything is going well. Once we face inoperable equipment, we tend to look over a larger issue that could have easily been prevented with some foresight. Maintenance within any commercial or industrial facility is essential to the general operation. By investing time before something breaks professionals can predict lifeline on a given item. Lifeline then may be extended, in turn, saving money on parts, repair, and labor.

1. Hire the right partner. Real partners offer site surveys from knowledgeable professionals. Your chosen professional should collect critical data, digging deep into pain points, usage, and provide recommendations while allowing your feedback.
   
2. Designed for you maintenance programs. Proactive maintenance keeps you ahead of the tidal wave. This program should be built specifically for the business and industry. There is no cookie cutting approach here.
   
3. Open communication. Dates, time frames and critical information should flow freely between interactions.
   
4. Documentation. Today the expectation should be you are provided a digital and hard copy from your partner relationship. You should feel confident, should there be an issue where you need to recall your documentation that someone can easily provide it quickly.
   
5. Prior written approval. Establish a cost guideline in advance to ensure you are not charged for another service call when items can be handled on the spot.

​
If you follow these steps your provider should be able to assist you in preventing the inevitable. Issuing specifics on a timeline for potential failure on given operable machinery allowing for planning and appropriate foresight all while maintaining items within your facility that matter most to the safety and operation of the facility.

We are in an age where food is king or, queen, we treat ourselves when we are winning, and we treat ourselves when we are losing. Some of the best places to get food when we are winning, or losing, is no surprise, the grocery store or diving right into a restaurant. No matter which source you treat yourself to the cold chain industry plays a large part in getting food to your plate. Processes and procedures lead the food industry in compliance to be sure food safely gets to your plate. Chilling food is not only a science but a masterpiece. This masterpiece can bring a budget to devastation if a freezer or cooler door is not properly performing.

The most common issues freezer doors face are all rectifiable with a partner who understands your industry and the need for things to operate to maintain safe food in a timely manner. The most common issues that arise with freezer or cooler doors can cause many problems in a matter of only a few hours.
Common issues cold chain industries see that can easily be addressed with attention to detail:

• Maintain seals to hold temperature.
• Address damage to doors immediately.
• Seek out places that could cause temperature control issues.
• Reduce condensation.
• Keep areas free from spills
• Reduce exposure to exterior elements, shut the door quickly.

The most extreme consequences of not keeping an eye out or not tending to an issue immediately are sick people, spoiled products, worker safety, and business relationships. Taking time out to deal with issues immediately ensures integrity, brand and consumer safety. Eat well, winning or losing.

​June is National Safety Month. It is only fitting coming out of a pandemic that creating work environments with an overall safety culture falls into place. Small changes may become forever changes in the operations of the facility you work. Antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer, soap and more might be simple changes for a small business, where big business see’s changes like hands free door openers, mobile optimizations for many facility operations so your hand held device is the only device you ever touch, limitations in public interactions and more.
 
In 2020, the National Safety Council focuses their efforts on these 11 areas of workplace safety;
1.COVID19 – Coronavirus
2.Safe Actions for Employee Returns (SAFER)
3.Work to Zero
4.Fatigue
5.Drugs at Work
6.Workplace Violence
7.Driving
8.Slips, Trips, and Falls
9.Ergonomics and Overexertion
10.Struck by Objects
11.Alternative Labor Arrangements
 
These 11 areas will look different for each business in 2020 depending on your exposure to the public and operations moving forward. Ultimately, our new norm reminds us working together is the best way to understand how each position within an organization helps to keep everyone safe. 

​​If the slow down of the pandemic did not teach you this already, going home to what we love at the end of the day is what truly matters. What is your workplace doing today to work together and make the day safe for everyone within the organization? From the list of 11 where do you believe your workplace should focus? We encourage you today, if you see a gap that needs improvement to take the initiative to represent making the change. If you are waiting for that one person to do something, make that one person be you. 

In 2020, priority leads. Priority-based on true data can greatly increase effectiveness while backing decisions with information that implies accuracy in response. Expected response time for a minimum acknowledgment of an existing issue and plan implementation is 14 hours! Planning for all potential occurrences means minimizing response time on implementation and acknowledgment. Commonly, proactive maintenance procedures will leave you ahead if detailed reporting is provided.

• Time is money. Out of service equipment can cost more than the time and money it would take to prioritize and lead in facilities maintenance. Expect in advance the unexpected. Knowing how you will handle the inevitable reduces reactivity time and awareness prepares for potential lack of workforce, budget, software, vendor connections and more.
• Opportunity cost is defined here as differential between a paid labor cost if you were to take that employee out of the workforce for a given amount of time to handle a task that may not entirely be income-producing to tend to a task that could be handled by an expert in the given industry reducing time on a maintenance task.
• Upkeep of standardizing administration. Maintaining procedures and practices fit for your industry to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency allocated to employees, operations, facility and business resources.

​
In facilities management, your position widely affects every position within your company. Proper handling including, but not limited to, numbers weighted by analytics, materials, goods, services, machinery, technology and laborers. You are a full-circle position from maintaining, planning, implementation, production, and future foresight. You predict the unpredictable. You remain profitable, and competitive with an edge on strategy. Management of operations dates to 5000 BC, it’s no wonder we have come so far and expect so much today. We encourage you to take a deep breath and plan for 2020 to stay ahead in facilities.

As we head into the fall and eventually winter, we start to focus on keeping warm. Keeping the cold air from blowing through our doors. Keeping the temperature in that sweet spot of not too hot and not too cold. But what about water? Not just from fall rainstorms but from melting snow and ice.

We know. It’s September. Are we really talking about snow and ice? Yep. We are.

Winter in the Midwest is hard. It can be brutal on your loading dock equipment and bottom line. It’s cold. It’s warm(ish). It’s sunny. It’s snowing. All of that can cause chaos with your loading dock equipment. Melting (and then refreezing) snow and ice pose serious safety concerns and performance problems at your loading docks.

Safety Concerns
Slippery docks are dangerous to your employees and visiting drivers alike. The potential for someone to slip and fall greatly increases if your docks are not properly sealed and water or ice is present. Forklifts going in and out of trailers will transfer water throughout your facility, creating even more chances for someone to slip and fall. This can lead to injuries, time off, workers comp – all of these can be avoided by paying closer attention to your loading dock and the potential for water infiltration.

Compliance Concerns
Ever smelled a stagnant swamp or bucket of water?  Standing water can become a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.  Bacteria poses numerous threats to the health of your staff and food facilities can be a major violation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements.   FSMA requires you to have a food safety plan in place that includes an analysis of hazards and risk-based preventive controls to minimize or prevent the identified hazards.
A pest infestation can be another violation, especially in food and pharma facilities.  Any gaps in your seals or equipment can lead to issues with requirements and compliance.

Performance Problems
Have you ever tried to pry something off the ground that good ole’ Mr. Winter has frozen?  Say your garbage can after it’s been sitting for a week with constant thaw and freeze.  Not a whole lot of fun and sometimes an unsuccessful venture.  Now imagine that at your loading docks.  Imagine melted ice and snow working its way down into your metal loading docks and thawing and refreezing.  Over and over again.  Many repairs we perform during the winter could be prevented by properly maintained and sealed equipment.  A nagging or small issue in July can become a big problem in December

So, what should I do?

1. Be proactive. Schedule your Proactive Maintenance sooner rather than later. Find the small problems before they become big ones. If you don’t currently have a maintenance program in place, now is a great time to set one up – contact us today and we will get you started.  If you are part of our program, work with your Account Manager to address any issues found during your last inspection.
2. Dock seals.  Look at your dock seals.  If you can see rips or tears, they need to be replaced.  If you can see foam, they need to be replaced.  Besides helping (along with dock bumpers) to protect your building from damage they are also an integral part of keeping that opening sealed.  The correct seal or enclosure that is tailored for your facility, your trucks, and your budget are available through us.  Contact your Account Manager for details or check out our website for more information
3. Consider installing HVLS, HVHS, or Dock fans.  Don’t underestimate the value that proper air movement can provide to your facility.  Energy savings, employee comfort, and safety are just a few.
4. Consider snow removal equipment for your fleet and incoming trucks.  The Yeti could be just what you need
5. Rain units provide another level of protection against water ingress.  They help divert waterway from your building and provide excellent barriers to water run-off from the tops of trailers

Check out our other blogs on facility modernization and safety for more ideas on how to improve your facility and your bottom line.

As always, we hope you find this information useful and you find something that you can do in your facility to help prevent the winter blues. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Impairment in the workplace is probably one of the trickiest safety issues faced by employers today.  Sure it’s super easy to tell if someone is obviously drunk or high, but what do you do about it?   And what about those that you just suspect may be impaired in some way but you can’t be absolutely sure?

There are many kinds of impairment from sleep deprivation to mental illness to chemical abuse. Let’s focus on the most detrimental and potentially costly – chemical dependency and abuse.  Most companies have some kind of policy that they can refer to for corrective actions, but does that really help the person or the company?  Or is it just designed for procedure and discipline?

​As employers and management we can:

1. Recognize and accept that this is a widespread issue that affects every company at some time in every industry.  It’s dangerous, potentially deadly, and very costly
2. Develop a strong and clear company substance use policy
3. Set expectations and discreet methods for reporting suspicious activity or behavior
4. Develop a training program for managers / supervisors / leads / foreman / etc. so that they learn how to spot the signs
5. Develop an open-door policy for those that are struggling.  Give them a safe space, within reason, to acknowledge that they have a problem and that they need help
6. Provide resources on local counseling centers, programs, or facilities near that your employee can talk with.  If you want to be really great, make sure they accept your insurance
7. Setup a company meeting to discuss this issue and clearly communicate your policy, your expectations, and your willingness to help when needed

There’s no easy answer to this health crisis.  All we can do is keep our eyes and ears open, learn to spot early warning signs and learn how to appropriately deal with the issue when it crosses our path.

As always we hope that we have provided some useful information and sources.

How many times have we all not done something the way it should be done simply because we are too tired? Or cut corners to shave a little bit of time off a project because it’s been so intense to work on?  How many near misses with errors or injuries have we all had because we are unable to focus or have turtle speed reaction times?
​
Employee fatigue can be expensive, decrease your companies’ productivity and ultimately your bottom line.  Employers and employees are becoming increasingly aware that workplace fatigue can be a serious safety issue.
Let’s dig into workplace fatigue a bit and see what we all can do to help combat this surprisingly common and often overlooked safety concern.

What is fatigue?
The dictionary defines fatigue as “extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness”.  Fatigue can be caused by a number of things, both work and personal.  Physical stresses such as lifting heavy objects or operating machinery or tools for long periods of time can cause physical fatigue.  Mental stresses such as prolonged periods of intense focus or long, difficult or spirited meetings can cause mental fatigue.  Other factors such as long commutes, working overnight shifts, not having adequate rest during or after shifts, long hours, work environment conditions like dim lighting or noisy conditions, longer hours, can all play a role in workplace fatigue.  Even having poor social interactions with your co-workers can cause fatigue.  It’s not just about how much or how good of sleep you get.

Effects of fatigue
Fatigued people lack focus and fall behind on projects or simply don’t have the energy to pay attention to what is going on around them.  Slower reaction times and decreased cognitive ability can have devastating safety consequences. Simply put – when people are fatigued they tend to make bad choices.  In this article from the National Safety Council (NSC), Fatigue – You’re More Than Just Tired, there are some eye-opening facts on fatigue and what it does to our bodies, our productivity, our mental health, and overall wellness.

Fatigued workers are also more apt to contract common illnesses and struggle with overcoming them.  Since people suffering from fatigue are already experiencing physical effects from fatigue they are more susceptible to common illnesses and can’t fight them off as easily.  That, in turn, leads to more sick days, less production time, and yep, more stress.  It can be a vicious cycle.

Who does fatigue affect?
While fatigue affects everyone, night shift workers, drivers, healthcare, and construction workers are most a risk.  According to this article published by OSHA our bodies operate on a circadian rhythm sleep/wake cycle. It is naturally programmed for sleeping during night hours. Demanding work schedules may disrupt the body’s natural cycle, leading to increased fatigue, stress and lack of concentration.  Long work hours and extended and irregular shifts may lead to fatigue and to physical and mental stress.

How does fatigue harm the workplace?
Some of the most deadly catastrophes in the past 30 years have been caused in part by fatigue due to sleep deprivation.  According to this article citing Dr. Denis Cronson;  in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, employees had been working up to 14-hour shifts and a tired third mate had fallen asleep at the wheel, causing the second largest oil spill in American history. In the Chernobyl disaster, the power plant exploded after engineers had worked 13 hours or more, causing probably the worst nuclear disaster in history. In the Canadian National train disaster, two crewmen on one of the freight trains suffered from sleep apnoea that caused chronic sleeplessness and resultant fatigue and crashed into another train, spilling 3000 gallons of diesel and finally in the Air France disaster, the official report concluded that the pilot had had only had one hour of sleep the night before, and was taking a nap when the plane collided with a tropical storm, killing all 228 people on board.

OK so those are extreme examples but they put into perspective what can happen with fatigued workers.  And what can happen if employers don’t recognize and address fatigue in their employees?  Here are some examples from Safety News Alert of how fatigue can harm our workplaces:

1. Improper safety enforcement and major injury. Major industrial incidents have been linked to sleep deprivation, including the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear disasters. An investigation showed that some workers at a BP refinery in Texas where an explosion led to the death of 15 workers had worked 12 hours a day for nearly 30 days in a row.
2. Impaired motor skills. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found 17 to 19 hours without sleep has the same effect as a 0.05% blood alcohol level. Employee response times can be cut in half, much like when someone is intoxicated.
3. Poor decision-making and risk-taking. Studies show losing sleep can lead to riskier behavior. Employees may make impulsive decisions without realizing it.
4. Poor memory and information processing. Being tired can make it difficult to focus on and retain new information. Slow cognitive function can be particularly problematic in jobs that require strong problem-solving skills.
5. Falling asleep on the job. This is the worst-case scenario. Employees won’t be able to respond to a hazard. This was the case in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
6. Special risk for shift workers. Fatigued workers are most susceptible to accidents between midnight and 8 a.m. Long and rotating shifts pose a greater health concern than a traditional, eight-hour shift.
7. Inability to deal with stress. Getting less than seven to eight hours of sleep per night can have lasting effects on mood and stress levels. Personal issues have been cited as a primary or secondary cause for industrial accidents.
8. Sleep deprivation reduces productivity. The U.S. loses $136.4 in productivity each year due to sleep deprivation. As work hours increase, output decreases.
9. Sleep deprivation impacts workers in the long-term. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to obesity, worsening of diabetes, heart disease, digestion problems, depression, some cancers, reproductive problems, and sleep disorders. Fatigue also reduces immunity against viruses, increasing the likelihood that a cold or flu will spread.
10. Overlooking signs of fatigued workers. There are no specific safety regulations for extended work shifts in the general industry, although there are some in industries such as transportation. The American Safety Council says the lack of regulations can lead to a lack of discussion with employees about the issues involving fatigue.

SO……what the heck do we do about it?
Now that are you sufficiently bombarded with doom and gloom facts….let’s talk about how we can recognize, deal with, and help prevent fatigue in our workplace.

We understand that you can’t control your employees once they are off the clock.  You can’t tuck them into bed every night, but there are things you can do to help them understand how to deal with fatigue and how to let you know when they are getting to their breaking point.
​

• Provide training about the hazards and signs of fatigue
  • The NSC website has great resources for employers
• Limit overtime to short stretches or alternating weeks
• Schedule and enforce breaks
• Encourage employees to get outside during their break time
• Add more and shorter breaks for those working in extreme heat or cold
• Brighten up your facility – dim lighting can cause fatigue
• Cool it down – toasty temperatures make people tired
• Reduce noise when possible or provide quiet areas where people can go to decompress or escape the noise but still work
• Vary job tasks to eliminate long periods of repetition
• Switch up those job tasks that are boring or mentally tasking
• Provide resources on how to achieve a work-life balance
• Introduce shorter shifts when your workload allows
• Provide healthy snacks for employees and encourage them to partake
• Encourage exercise and mediation
• Organize fun times for your employees to get together and de-stress – either within working hours or outside
• Pay attention to your employees – if you see someone struggling ask how you can help
• Be an open door – let your employees know they can talk to you and that you are prepared to help them
• Encourage employees and co-workers to help each other
• Let in the fresh air – open the doors and let some fresh air in.  Use bug / screen doors to keep out pests.
• Maintain your equipment – equipment that is constantly running poorly can cause mental stress & fatigue.  Equipment that is dangerous or malfunctioning can cause physical fatigue and injury.  Proactive maintenance at your facility can go a long way to finding small problems before they become big ones

We hope that we have given you some helpful information and actions that you can take to increase awareness of fatigue at your facility and with your employees and co-workers.

As always, please Contact Us, if you have any questions about our products or services.  We are here to help in any way that we can.

Safety hazards exist in every workplace – from the smallest office to the biggest warehouse.  Heavy machinery, distracted walking, water on the floor, heavy traffic areas, etc.  Slips, trips, and falls are a major source of preventable injuries and deaths in the workplace; only motor vehicle incidents cause more worker fatalities. The loading dock area, in particular, is ripe with potential dangers.

Since safety measures come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, what can you as an employer do to make your facility as safe as it can be for yourself, your employees, and visitors?

Let’s look at each situation and how you can help prevent injury and equipment damage.

Slips

Fall Protection
We talked about fall protection in our blog Hazard Recognition – 3 commonly overlooked serious situations and it is a serious problem.  In fact, it’s one of OSHA’s Top 10 violations (see here, Fall Protection – Top 10 on OSHA’s violation list, for the remaining 9 – and notice that fall protection training is in there too).

Fall protection at your loading dock can be as simple as having enough of the right size and capacity ladders to installing safety netting or gates to adding truck restraints at every dock position.  There are so many options to fit every situation, every need, and every budget, it’s a no-brainer to investigate what you can do to ensure your safety, the safety of your employees, and protect your equipment and products.

Employee Training
Proper training is crucial for the prevention of slips, trips, and falls.  This includes equipment training for all employees, common-sense procedures, regular and thorough general housekeeping, and policies that enforce and enhance your safety practices.  The old adage: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure most certainly applies.

The NSC’s Make Fall Safety a Top Priority article has some very simple and great tips for fall protection.

How can we help?
As always, we hope this has given you some helpful information, as well as some things to consider checking or adding to your facility to improve your safety systems.
​
We are here to help if you have any concerns or questions please Contact Us today for a no-obligation safety and OSHA compliance check.

We see hazards every day in our personal lives – the texting driver, the kid running across the street, the unsecured cargo in the back of a pickup.  But do we see the hazards at our warehouse?  Or have we gotten so used to things just working that we don’t see the dangers they pose if they don’t?

About 25% of all industrial accidents happen at the loading dock.  For each reported accident there are as many as 600 near misses…that’s a scary number.  Forklifts, pedestrians, debris and other hazards, faulty equipment, human error, and countless other reasons are to blame.  Many of these can be avoided by developing and enforcing clear and comprehensive safety practices, providing top-notch employee safety training,  and repairing or replacing old or faulty loading dock equipment.

As we visit our clients the most common hazards we see are:

1. No truck restraints or wheel chocks at all loading docks
Lack of truck restraints, be it wheel chocks or mechanical restraints,  can cause a multitude of very serious problems; trailer creep being the biggest and scariest of them.  Trailer creep is when the trailer of the truck “creeps” away from the dock.  This can cause separation between the dock lip and the trailer itself.  Once that separation gets big enough the weight and constant back and forth motion of the forklift could cause the lip to fall down or break, taking the forklift and the driver with it.  This could result in serious injury or death and major equipment damage.
Impatient drivers or unclear communication between drivers and dock workers can cause early truck departure – resulting in the same situation or worse.

Wheel chocks can certainly help but are not always the best choice.  They have drawbacks that can make them an unreliable means of securing a trailer in your dock.  But they are better than nothing.  If you are using wheel chocks only, make sure to train your staff on how to properly use them and how to safely and effectively communicate with your truck drivers.  You also need to have a process in place for inspecting your chocks and assessing their condition so you know when its time to replace them.  Broken, missing, or misused wheel chocks are as bad as not having any at all.

Check out the articles below for some basic information and facts on loading dock safety and the crucial role that vehicle restraints can play.

Prevent Trailer / Dock Separation Incidents (MH&L)
Stay Safe: 8 Tips to Ensure Loading Dock Safety (Load Delivered)
5 Loading Dock Catastrophes (and How to Prevent Them)  (safeopedia)

2. Missing or improper entrapment devices on doors
As the name states these devices prevent someone from becoming entrapped under your door.  Overhead door systems are frequently overlooked as safety hazards, even in companies with excellent safety programs.  Quite simply, if they are working, we kind of forget about them.  Commercial doors are heavy, many hang high in the air, and in the interest of efficiency can operate quickly.   Besides being an OSHA safety violation, missing or improper entrapment devices is an opportunity for a serious accident to occur.  A person or even a forklift can easily get trapped under a door that isn’t set up correctly to prevent entrapment.

There are different options and different devices that can prevent this from happening, depending on how your facility and equipment are set up and used.  The proper entrapment devices can save thousands in equipment damage and prevent a serious injury from happening.

3.  Missing fall protection
This is a commonly overlooked safety component because we usually don’t see the docks empty and the doors open.  But what about those beautiful spring & summer days when you open the doors to let a nice breeze in.  What protects your employees and equipment then?

While it may be a simple thing to ignore, OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.23(b) relating to protection for wall openings and holes requires fall protection for openings where there is a drop of 48″ or more.   We recommend fall protection wherever you have an opening that a forklift, person, or other equipment could fall from and cause injury.  As with most things, there is a wide variety of fall protection equipment available depending on your facility, your budget, and the frequency of use.

OSHA Requirements
Many times we reference OSHA standards in our industry and while it is a great tool and great organization, we consider their requirements to be the bare minimum.  Your facility and your industry may have standards that far exceed the OSHA requirements and that is a very good thing.  Make sure when laying out your safety plans or adding safety equipment that you take into consideration how it will be used, what equipment is going to be affected by it, and how your employees can easily and safely implement your safety practices.   Keep the bare minimum in mind, but plan and build for the reality of your situation.

We hope this has given you some helpful information, as well as some things to consider checking or adding to your facility to improve your safety systems.

Check out our other blogs on Loading Dock Safety and Risk Assessment for more helpful tips.
​
We are here to help if you have any concerns or questions please Contact Us today for a no-obligation safety and OSHA compliance check