Trailer Landing Legs - How They Work

The hand wound trailer landing legs are a telescopic type operating on the screw jack principle. The leg comprises a length of hollow section which forms the fixed upper section and a second length which telescopes inside it to form a retractable lower section.

The legs are lowered or raised manually by winding with a handle attached to a drive shaft. This is at the near side of the semi-trailer. The drive is transmitted to both legs by a cross shaft which in turn drives a vertical screw within the leg via gears.

Safe Use of Pallet Trucks

A Pallet Truck

A warehouse pallet truck is a piece of equipment that allows us to lift and move palleted loads around the warehouse without having to use a fork lift truck. A pallet truck operates using a hydraulic pump, this pump raises the forks of the truck so that when placed under a pallet its weight is lifted from the floor surface. We activate the hydraulic pump by pumping up and down on the handle bar, this is why some people also call a pallet truck a pump truck.

What loads should not be carried on a Pallet truck?
• Tubes – Why? Would roll off when pallet truck begins to move.
• Lengths – Why? If longer than the pallet truck would be difficult to manoeuvre around aisles as there would be hanging over
• Engines or other unpalletised components – Why? Potential to leak oil or slip off truck. NB – These items must be placed onto a pallet for transportation.
• Loose boxes – Why? These often fall between the gaps in the forks causing a sudden stopping and also damaging customers goods

How to use the Pallet truck safely
• Facing the truck, with the truck now under the pallet, grip handle firmly – both hands must be used to grip handle.
• Gently push operating lever down until it clicks into position and then begin to pump the handle up and down, thus raising the load.
• With the load raised, put both hands on the handle tightly and very slowly attempt to move the load – this is to test the weight of the load.

What if the load is too heavy?
• Arms, legs and back muscle would naturally go taut to brace against load
• If too heavy you should use another lifting tool e.g. a forklift truck.

If load weight is okay
• Move forward – walking slowly at first to get a feel for the load before you move into normal walking pace.

Carbon Monoxide Exposure

Carbon monoxide exposure from light and heavy goods vehicles and powered goods handling equipment, such as forklifts, presents a serious health risk to employees who work on loading bays. To eliminate or reduce exposure to the gas take the following steps: Instruct gas powered forklift truck drivers to turn off their engines when parked. Consider instead using electric powered fork lifts. Goods vehicle engines must be switched off when parked and bay doors closed until the vehicle is safely on the loading bay. Install a carbon monoxide alarm and test it regularly. Use local exhaust ventilation to remove carbon monoxide. And, make sure there is enough ventilation to remove carbon monoxide even when doors and windows are shut.

Alcohol Policy

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

While for many people, drinking alcohol is a positive part of life and does not cause any problems, the misuse of alcohol can lead to reduced productivity, taking time off work, and accidents at work. Employers should adopt an alcohol policy, in consultation with their staff. This should include matters such as:

• how the organisation expects employees to limit their drinking;
• how problem drinking will be recognised and help offered; and
• at what point and in what circumstances you will treat an employee's drinking as a matter for discipline rather than as a health problem.

Some employers have decided to adopt alcohol screening as part of their alcohol policy. If you think you want to do the same, think very carefully about what you want screening to do, and what you will do with the information it generates. Screening by itself will never be the complete answer to problems caused by alcohol misuse.

Lock Out Procedures - Machinery

There have been experiences where workers have been injured by machines starting up whilst they are carrying out repair work. It is extremely important that employers have 'lock out' procedures in place to prevent any risk of machines being started whilst maintenance is being carried out;

Safe work practices:

• Employers should provide written safe work procedures for all workers who work on or around equipment and machinery.
• Do not service equipment or machinery until all parts and attachments have been locked out and secured against inadvertent movement.
• Ensure that employees have safe and proper access and egress to equipment and machinery before servicing that equipment or machinery.
• Do not wear loose clothing when working on or around machinery or equipment.

Keep loading docks dry

Water on the loading dock creates a hazardous situation for employees. It can also destroy merchandise. Water damage most commonly occurs when rain or melting snow flows onto the trailer bed and dock leveller, off the roof of trailers. The use rain diversion seals can be a cost-effective way to prevent water infiltration. These seals keep the building operator from having to re-lay the loading bay approach or rebuild the dock face to keep employees and goods dry. Your company should be in a position to want to provide good protection against the elements. However, as with most loading dock equipment, the equipment must be able to withstand repeated uses under a variety of weather and loading conditions. Any manufacturer offering any increase in longevity of the dock seals over their competitors should therefore be something to consider.

Loading Bay Lamps

Most trailers are not equipped with internal lighting, so it’s a good idea to fit dock lights to improve visibility. Otherwise, operatives entering the vehicle from a brightly lit warehouse can struggle to adjust to the change in conditions and may not see potential hazards, causing injury to themselves or potentially damaging goods. The more useful types of lamps are those that are mounted on an arm which pivots at the wall and in the centre. They then can be parked against the wall of the loading bay when not in use.

Double Decked Trailers

Given the economic conditions, uncertain outlook for energy prices and the importance of recognising green issues, the loading bay could see some important changes gathering momentum, particularly in the food retailing sector as the leading retailers take more fixed double deckers to heart. Some companies, like Boots, are committed to full scale conversion of its distribution fleet to double deck trailers. Investment in double-deck trailers is vital as it comes with several advantages; it can carry up to double the cargo to the same destination saving on manpower, man-hours, fuel and running costs.

The volume-constraint can be relaxed by enlarging the vehicle, in most cases vertically. This is only beneficial, however, for loads composed of products that can be stacked to a greater height. Where ‘stackability’ is limited, the insertion of an upper deck can achieve a much greater increase in vehicle loading. In some sectors, the increasing fragility of the product and weakening of packaging material is limiting the height to which it can be stacked. The evolution of the passenger bus illustrates the potential advantages of splitting a vehicle horizontally through the addition of a second deck. In some cases, the full benefits of double-decking can be obtained without any increase in vehicle dimensions. With some products and handling systems, it is more efficient to combine the addition of a double-deck with some enlargement of the vehicle body.

Health and Safety Regulations: These regulations have restricted the height to which pallets can be stacked to minimise the risk of injury to loading bay operatives during loading and unloading. This again, however, has the effect of reducing the amount of freight that can be carried on each square metre of deck area.

Yard Pot Holes

Pot holes and other defects in the yards of industrial facilities such as warehouses and distribution centres caused by the recent freezing winter could lead to significant damage to forklift trucks working in those areas. Untreated pot holes also present health and safety issues. Deep pot holes could potentially tip forklifts over.

Potholes form because over time asphalt surfaces eventually crack. These cracks allow snow and rainwater to seep into the underlying dirt and gravel. During cold winter conditions, this water freezes and expands. As a result some of the dirt and gravel is pushed out, leaving a hole in the yard surface when the water eventually melts and the asphalt layer collapses.

There are no shortages of pot hole repair kits available on the internet. Anyone with a yard area that has suffered damage over the winter should invest in one as soon as possible and get the repair done before your forklift truck fleet is damaged, or worse one of your employees are involved in an accident that is a result of driving a forklift over a pot hole.

Portable Ladder Safety

Portable ladders are such common, simple tools that it's easy to become complacent about ladder safety. But many employees are injured using ladders each year, mainly due to a lack of attention to safety procedures.

• Are all ladders in good condition, joints between steps and side rails tight, all hardware and fittings securely attached and moveable parts operating freely without binding or undue play? 
• Are nonslip safety feet on all ladders except stepladders? 
• Are ladder rungs and steps free of grease and oil? 
• Are employees prohibited from placing a ladder in front of doors opening toward the ladder except when the door is blocked open, locked or guarded? 
• Are employees prohibited from placing ladders on boxes, barrels or other unstable bases to obtain additional height?
• Are employees instructed to face the ladder when ascending/descending? 
• Are employees prohibited from using ladders that are broken or missing steps, rungs, or have broken side rails or other faulty equipment? 
• Are employees instructed not to use the top step of ordinary stepladders as a step? 
• When portable rung ladders are used to gain access to elevated platforms, roofs and the like, does the ladder always extend at least a metre above the elevated surface? 
• Are portable metal ladders legibly marked with signs reading "CAUTION -- Do Not Use Around Electrical Equipment" or similar wording?