DOCK & DOOR TEC
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      • Door Entrapment Protection
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      • Overhead Door Upgrades
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Blog

Why are Hydraulic Dock Levelers & Conversions better for your employees?

1/9/2023

 
The conventional thought process around the loading dock area has seen a conceptual shift in thinking over the past several years. Many of our clients have changed over from mechanical levelers to hydraulic, either via equipment replacement or a hydraulic conversion. With a hydraulic conversion we take the springs, levers, brakes, and chains out and replace them with hydraulic components. Why?

In discussing this with clients, there were many reasons, but three of them were shared by all.
  1. Safer for your employees
    • Pushing a button versus pulling a chain, or multiple chains with below dock service
    • Easy to use with consistent operation
    • Eliminate walking down the leveler to avoid putting employees at risk
  2. Better seal
    • As the leveler is now dead weight, not spring-loaded, it rests securely with no bounce when walked over, resulting in a positive seal
    • Improved employee comfort with weather seal properly applied & installed, the wind gusts are eliminated
  3. ​Less down time
    • Hydraulics are more dependable than springs, levers, brakes, and chains
    • Avoids employee frustration with tools that do not work properly 

We know retaining and attracting employees is a challenge, so attention to both big and small issues is important. Providing employees with safe, reliable tools which allow them to work safely and confidently is what they’re looking from you as their employer. Not sure where to start? Request a facility needs assessment.
Learn More

Partner With Client Focused Suppliers

8/3/2022

 
​In today’s ever-growing corporate world, smaller independent dock and door distributors are appointed by larger companies. While there can be advantages to this for the client, there is one disadvantage, especially in today’s supply-chain challenged world. When manufacturer’s own the local distributor, the client’s choice becomes severely limited. Just because the manufacturer offers different models, this doesn’t truly provide the client with multiple choices as the intended applications for those door models are different. See part two of this series for the importance of correct equipment application.

Even if the “lead times” for new equipment are acceptable, what if there is a part failure and the part isn’t available? With high-speed doors and fire doors, this can be a larger issue as there is likely not an aftermarket option due to proprietary parts or regulations not allowing anything but OEM parts to be used.

Partnering with a service and equipment supplier that can offer both the variety of multiple manufacturer choices and the ability to service multiple manufacturer brands will allow your facility to thrive in through supply chain challenges.

What challenges are you facing with your facility? Schedule a call to see if we can help.
SCHEDULE CALL

Proper Capital Expenditure Planning

8/3/2022

 
Are you experiencing supply chain challenges when it comes to the maintenance of your facility? We know these challenges are not going away soon.

The way you conduct business will need to change for you to thrive. As a result, we're sharing five strategies you can implement to avoid delays created by supply chain challenges. Below is the first strategy you can implement.
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A foundational understanding of when to replace equipment is built by having a clear accounting of:
  1. Current equipment conditions
  2. Equipment quality vs. the application and cycle usage
  3. Performance in every environment to determine the life expectancy
    ​
Ideally, a maintenance program is in place that includes a detailed inspection with proper asset configuration. This includes date of manufacture and the needed details to build this foundation of information. “Lead time increases” vary greatly in the dock and door industry, so knowing what to expect is important. For example, many (not all) dock leveler manufacturers are facing “lead times” nearing 1-year, consequently ordering equipment will need to be done much sooner than in the past. In addition, the employee, raw goods, manufacturing shortages, and shipping delays are likely and should be expected. Factoring in the uncertainties listed above for equipment purchases/updates is a great practice.

Typically, you don’t have failure before your new equipment arrives, and if it arrives early that’s OK. If you’re still skeptical about ordering early, ask yourself these questions:
  1. What is the cost to your organization caused by down equipment?
  2. How does down equipment affect your relationship with your client’s or partners?

Compare the amounts from the questions above with the cost of buying an asset a few months earlier and consider the total in costs when you don’t take “lead times” into account.

No one likes surprises, why create one more?

P.S. See more tips like this on our LinkedIn page.
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Caution! Dock Slippery When Wet and Other Winter Weather Woes

9/19/2019

 
Slippery Loading Dock
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.

Slips, Trips, & Falls – Buck the Fatality Trend!

6/10/2019

 
National Safety Month Loading Docks
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
Slippery Loading Dock
How many times have you slipped on the ice or slipped on a small puddle of water?  You might tweak your back or give yourself a bit of a start, but it usually doesn’t result in a serious injury.   Unfortunately, we don’t normally see slips as a big threat to our safety until it’s a BIG one.  Imagine someone slipping off your loading dock and falling between a truck and the dock.  Imagine someone slipping in front of an oncoming forklift.  The potential for a slip to become a serious or fatal injury is there.
Things like water on your dock from a leaky dock seal or rain shelter is an easy opportunity for someone to slip and end up in one of the situations above.  Especially without the proper fall protection or safety training – but more on that later.

Slip Prevention
Routinely checking your dock seals for rips, tears, blowouts and other damage can help ensure that they form a proper seal when a truck comes in during inclement weather.  Replacing them when they do leak is another preventative measure you can take.   Things like barrel fans or dock fans can help dry out wet puddles or slick spots as well.  HVLS fans can also help combat condensation and moisture build-up throughout your facility.  Rain shelters are another excellent way of sealing up the opening when a truck is in position.  They also help keep out all the runoff from the roof and the rain coming down and penetrating the seal even without a truck in position.

This also applies to winter – we know it’s June – but snow and ice can cause just as much if not more water ingress into your building as rain.  Melt and runoff from trailers, steps, your parking lot, all bring water into your facility.  Proper dock seals and canopies can help relieve some of this at your loading dock.  Water absorbing mats and fans can help keep your floor dry.
Trips
Clutter.  Cords.  Poor Lighting.  Debris. Distracted walking.  Need we say more.  All these things can lead to someone tripping and falling and hurting themselves. Keeping your loading dock area clean and clutter-free goes a long way to preventing trips.
Loading Dock Trips
  • Clean up and debris or spills immediately
  • Repair cracks, holes, or other floor damage right away
  • Keep containers, packaging, and tools out of the way
  • Make sure cords are tucked away and out of the traffic lanes.  Or get rid of cords completely by adding in modern lighting fixtures, dock lights, fans and other equipment that can be hard-wired and used without running cords all over your floor.
  • Create and enforce a clear policy on cell phone/walkie usage while in traffic lanes or in the loading dock area.  Keeping people off their cell phones or walkies and paying attention to where they are walking and what is going on around them will help tremendously with trips and with pedestrian vs forklift accidents. So can upgrading any old or malfunctioning communication or dock lights in your facility.
Falls
Slippery Loading Dock
Falls in your facility are almost 100% preventable.  Take out human – let’s call it ingenuity to be nice – and there is almost no fall situation that cannot be prevented with the proper equipment and training.   According to the National Safety Council, in 2014 alone, 660 workers died from falls and 49,210 were injured badly enough to need time off work.  Take out the construction industry and those numbers are 301 and 26,880 respectively.
Common sense and a little patience can eliminate many fall hazards. Unfortunately in today’s rush rush world, we often set aside common sense in the interest of getting it done now.  How many times have you yourself used something sketchy or maybe just a bit on the dangerous side to climb up because it was close and you didn’t want to wait for the proper ladder to get there? Have you ever seen racking scaled to get to something that should be gotten to with a lift but it’s on the other side of the warehouse and we need it now?  How many times have our workers jumped out of the loading dock to the ground instead of walking to exit to take the stairs?
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.
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Dock & Door Tec
Serving Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota & South Dakota
  • Home
  • About
    • Accreditation
    • Community
    • Our Story
    • Our Team
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
    • The Dock & Door Tec Difference
  • Career Opportunities
    • Controller
    • Outside Account Manager
    • Sales Coordinator
    • Service Technician
  • Services
    • Springless Solutions
    • Enlarged Openings / Concrete Work
    • Facility & Equipment Analysis
    • Fire Door Drop Testing
    • Loading Dock Equipment Installation
    • Loading Dock Repair
    • Proactive Maintenance
    • Service Areas
    • Request Service
  • Equipment
    • Dock Locks (Truck Restraints) >
      • Impact
      • Non-Impact
      • Non-Conventional
      • Wheel Chock Systems
      • Pit Hooks
    • Fans & In-Plant Equipment >
      • HVLS Fans
      • HVHS Fans
      • Trailer l Dock Fans
      • Lifts, Various
      • Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor
      • Mezzanine Platform
    • Industrial / Commercial Doors >
      • High Speed Fabric Doors
      • Security High Speed
      • Rubber Doors
      • Fire Door
      • Rolling Steel
      • Impactable Dock Doors
      • Cooler / Freezer
      • Fabric Roll-Up
      • Impact / Traffic / Bump
      • Overhead / Sectional Doors
      • Operators / Activation
      • Air Curtains / Screen & Bug Doors
      • Strip Doors
      • Door Entrapment Protection
      • Door Protection
      • Overhead Door Upgrades
    • Loading Dock Levelers & Lifts >
      • Hydraulic Levelers
      • Air Powered Levelers
      • Mechanical Levelers
      • Edge of Dock Levelers
      • Cold Storage Telescoping Lip / Vertical Storing & Rail Car Levelers
      • Dock Lifts
      • Dockboards, Dockplates & Dock Ramps
      • Bumpers
    • Loading Dock Seals & Shelters >
      • Dock Seal & L-Pad Seal
      • Soft-Sided & Rigid Shelters
      • Specialty Enclosures
      • Under-Leveler Dock Seal
      • Rain Stops l Canopies
    • OEM & Aftermarket Parts
    • Safety / Energy / Security / Employee Comfort >
      • Energy Saving / Employee Comfort
      • Security Solutions
      • Safety Straps / Barrier Systems
      • Dock Lights & Communication Lights
      • Trailer Stands
    • Yeti Snow Removal
  • Markets
    • Food & Dairy
    • School Districts
    • General Contractors & Architects
  • Blog
  • Contact