Page 22 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2018

FACILITY SAFETY
last a long time before wear and tear shows, but it will happen. Other safety devices that might be used as an alternative to auto- mated barrier doors, such as photo eyes or laser scanners, also can
suffer breakdowns or malfunctions over the course of their lives. Whether it’s logistical equipment such as a dock leveler or safety equipment such as a barrier, even the best-made products can’t be
expected to work flawlessly forever without regular maintenance.
The Impact of Breakdowns
When equipment fails, it can be costly. Unexpected breakdowns result in undesirable problems, such as inefficient downtime for replacements and the costs associated with repairing or replacing equipment. Most importantly, however, is that worker safety is seri- ously compromised.
A vehicle restraint that no longer secures a trailer to a facility can lead to a variety of accidents. These include trailer tip-over from landing gear collapse; early departure, in which the semi- trailer prematurely pulls away from the dock while the forklift driver is still loading or unloading; and trailer creep, in which the vibration of forklift traffic causes the trailer to progressively move away from the dock wall. In each instance, a forklift operator is at risk of falling. These types of falls can lead to serious injury or death. Beyond that, they demonstrate a poor operation to potential business partners and consumers.
In-plant doors that get to the point of failure can spell immedi- ate danger for workers. In the case of an automated barrier door that fails to protect a machine operator, the resulting injury can range from minor to severe. A damaged laser scanner might al- low for an employee to enter an unsafe work zone that can lead to a serious injury. When industrial doors are damaged or don’t work properly, facilities are left with potential problems, including safety. Bottlenecks can occur if doors are down, which can lead to condensed work areas that are prone to accidents.
From a pure business perspective, major breakdowns can lead to operations seizing at the loading dock or in a normally active area within a facility. These unexpected shutdowns can cause logistical nightmares for facility managers that use dozens of dock positions. Broken or damaged doors can lead to pathways for conditioned air to escape or for air particulate from welding operations to damage product in a finishing or packaging area. This energy loss and prod- uct quality degradation is bad for business in the short term and in the long term if a reputation is damaged badly enough.
Using internal maintenance staff to work on these types of fail- ures might work in some instances. However, this solution often means someone who isn’t certified to work on a leveler is now go- ing to be putting himself in a potentially dangerous situation to fix a product he doesn’t know all the details about. If the dock equip- ment suffers a total breakdown, it can cost even more to replace in
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