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Considerations for: Loading Dock Leveler Design, Capacity, and Loading Dock Safety!

When it comes to Loading Dock Leveler Design, Capacity, and Safety, well thought out loading dock equipment lets companies avoid delays, minimize accidents, prevent product damage, meet schedules and ultimately, satisfy customers.

Dock Levelers Edge of Dock Levelers Edge of Dock Leveler Mounts directly to the dock face and provides a recommended working range of +/- 3″ and a maximum operating range of. The most popular units that we sell are the 1 and 2 yard hoppers with a 2000 lb. Capacity, but our design experts can help you decide the perfect size for your company based on the material size and weight that you will be loading. What is the difference between dock plates vs. A dock plate is for light, non-powered traffic. Alibaba.com offers 1,189 industrial dock levelers products. A wide variety of industrial dock levelers options are available to you, such as warranty of core components, local service location, and lift drive / actuation. Dock levelers are ideal for limited dock space or when the working range of a full-size, pit-style edge of dock leveler is not necessary. Each leveler is available with hydraulic or mechanical activation (lift). Made in the USA, our edge of dock leveler’s design is engineered using a three-dimensional engineering software package. CDock will unleash your Dock! It’s a small program to customize your dock on OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and OS X 10.11 El Capitan. There are several dock styles included and users can also create their own custom docks. Version 1.0.3: New: Show/Hide iCloud Drive icon in Dock; Show/Hide AirDrop icon in Dock.

Determining Loading Dock Leveler Capacity

Selecting the proper capacity for the leveler can be confusing due to the variables that must be addressed. Dock leveler manufacturers have different terminology to describe capacity such as rated load, dynamic capacity, rollover capacity, etc., which can add to the confusion.

To ensure proper capacity selection, consider these factors:

1. What is the maximum lifting capacity of the forklift in the facility?
(no matter how infrequent)

2. What is the maximum forklift weight (with battery) in the facility?
(no matter how infrequent)

3. Does the forklift have any attachments?
If so, add the weight of attachments to the weight of the forklift.

4. Forklift type, three wheel, or four wheel?
(Specify the number, size, and arrangement of the vehicle wheels)

5. What speed are the vehicles traveling - 4 mph or less, over 4 mph?

6. Fork lift direction onto the dock leveler - straight or angle approach?

7. What is the height difference between the vehicles and the dock?

8. Trailer traffic volume (trucks serviced per shift)? Light (1-3), Moderate (4-8) or Heavy (over 8)?

9. Number of shifts per day - one, two or three?

Calculating Loading Dock Leveler Capacity
To calculate the proper Dock Leveler capacity:

Add the gross weight of the Load Lifting Vehicle and the gross weight of the load.

Ø For minimal or light usage multiply that by 2.0 (not more than 4 trucks per door per day, 5 rollover cycles per vehicle), (i.e. forklift gross weight is 8,000 lbs. + gross load is 4,000 lbs = 12,000 lbs x 2.0 = 24,000 lbs; rounded up to 25,000 lbs).

Ø For normal to heavy usage, a multiplier of 3 to 4 should be applied. (not more than 8 trucks per door per day, 20 rollover cycles per vehicle).

Ø For applications of higher frequency, greater grade, and higher speeds, a multiplier of 4 to 5 times the total gross load should be used. Unusual conditions can lessen the effectiveness of this guideline. When in doubt, always specify a higher capacity.

If the manufacturer does not offer that exact Dock Leveler capacity, use the next higher capacity. Specifying a capacity higher than the calculated requirements will further extend the life expectancy of the dock leveler. The rated capacity may be adversely affected by unique loading or operating conditions.

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Loading Dock Leveler Designs

Dock Boards / Dock Plates

Ø Dock Boards and Dock Plates -This loading dock equipment bridges the gap between the end of the loading dock and the truck that you are loading or unloading. A dock plate is used only for hand-operated application with a hand truck or pallet truck. A dock board is used for powered lift equipment. The biggest physical difference between a dock board and a dock plate is that dock plates do not include a safety curb that prevents a forklift from veering off the dock board.

Dock Levelers

Ø Automatic or Hydraulic Dock Levelers allow your loading dock to be mechanically lined up with trucks without the time and effort it takes to deploy a manual truck dock board or dock plate. Hydraulic Dock Levelers can save about 5 minutes over a mechanical dock leveler and 20 minutes over a dock board.

Ø Dock levelers are designed to withstand dynamic forces generated when the loading vehicle makes contact with the inclined Dock leveler. The impact force can be many times greater than the actual gross load due to the speed at which it is traveling.
Three-wheeled loading vehicles or narrow wheels greatly increase pinpoint loading and should be accounted for by further increasing the leveler capacity. When using equipment of this type, a dock leveler with a minimum capacity of 30,000 lbs. is recommended regardless of gross load.

Loading Dock Safety

Loading dock safety is serious business.

Every year there are thousands of loading Dock related accidents. Many of those are the result of a forklift running off a loading dock. Some of those accidents are undoubtedly the result of the early departure of a Truck trailer from a dock. That happens when a truck driver pulls out of the loading dock before the forklift driver is out of a trailer and off the dock plate.

It is an OSHA requirement that trucks have their wheels chocked at all times while loading and unloading. Wheel chocks are wedge-shaped blocks placed in front of the rear wheels of a trailer to prevent the trailer from moving away from the dock while the trailer is being loaded. By design, the weight of the truck makes the wheel chock grab the ground harder when motion is attempted.

Loading dock accidents can be prevented however, with proper training and procedures, and safety equipment such as dock restraints, wheel chocks, dock boards, and dock levelers

Most common methods to try to keep the truck and trailer in place at the dock.

One is to attach a hook to the rear impact guard (RIG) bar. The hook can hold a load between 20,000 and 35,000 pounds,

The problem is that the RIG bars, also known as ICC bars, are really designed to prevent another vehicle from driving under the back of a trailer during an accident, not to restrain a trailer.

Rubber trailer chocks are another commonly-used solution. They work, but only if the driver remembers to put them in place,

That even with a chock in place, the force of a heavy forklift repeatedly entering a trailer can cause it to creep, or move away from the dock. This phenomenon is often called Trailer Creep.

Wheel restraint systems that utilizes the wheels and axle to keep the trailer in place are the best way to safely keep a trailer properly positioned at the loading dock,

Accidents on the loading dock can be very expensive. There are the direct costs of medical expenses, workers compensation costs, and OSHA fines. There may also be many indirect costs such as equipment damage, cargo loss, lost productivity, litigation, and damaged customer relations. To prevent those serious injuries and fatalities,

Wheel Chocks

One of the most common causes of loading dock accidents is dock walk (also known as trailer creep or trailer walk). This occurs when the force of employees entering and exiting the trailer with lift trucks causes the trailer to slowly move away from the dock, resulting in separation from the dock leveler. Separation from the dock can also occur when a driver pulls away thinking the loading or unloading is done, but there is still a forklift operator in the truck. One issue with wheel chocks is that people are required to deploy them.

Trailer Restraints

In lieu of Wheel Chocks, consider automatic trailer locks that cause a clamp to be deployed when a truck backs up to the lock, thereby grabbing the truck’s ICC and securing it with no human intervention.

Dock Boards / Dock Plates

Dock boards and dock plates are also very important to the overall safety of your loading dock. This loading dock equipment bridges the gap between the end of the loading dock and the truck that you are loading or unloading. A dock plate is used only for hand-operated application with a hand truck or pallet truck. A dock board is used for all power equipment. The biggest physical difference between the two is that dock plates do not include the curb that prevents a forklift from veering off the dock board.

Dock Levelers

Automatic dock levelers allow your loading dock to be mechanically lined up with trucks without the time and effort it takes to deploy a manual truck dock board or dock plate. Automatic dock levelers can save about 5 minutes over a mechanical dock leveler and 20 minutes over a dock board.

Additional Equipment

Other important dock equipment includes expanding benches, stand-alone barriers and barriers built into dock levelers to prevent driving off the edge of the dock when the dock is empty, strip doors for protecting the inside of the loading dock or truck from external factors, fixed and variable height ramps to raise trailers to a level closer to that of the dock, and a variety of dock doors and dock seals.

About Michigan Commercial Door Group:

Michigan Commercial Door can meet all of your Loading Dock Equipment needs in Southeastern Michigan, including Detroit, Flint, Warren, Roseville, Southfield and Ann Arbor. Please contact us at (800) 826 -3667 to speak with an account representative today.

Michigan Commercial Door also provides many other energy saving and productivity products including, Insulated Rolling and Sectional Doors, Air Curtains, Weather seal, Fire Doors, Loading Dock Seals and Shelters, High Speed Rapid Roll Doors, Automatic Entrance Doors and Operators, Revolving Doors.

Dock 1 0 3 – Customize Your Dock Levelers Download

OUR CUSTOM LOADING DOCK / DOCK LEVELING SEAL BRUSHES

Dock levelers need a 1 to 1” to 1-1/4” gap between the concrete and the leveler in order to work correctly. A standard Dock Leveler 6’ x 6’ with a 1-1/8” gap is equivalent to a hole measuring 243” square inches.

Left unsealed a dock leveler will cause large quantities of air infiltration and exfiltration within your building, creating an unnecessary increase in utility expenses and reducing the comfort of your working environments. The gaps also allow in dust, dirt and pests that are attracted by the heat and light of your building’s interior.

Air leakage problems are also compounded by what is commonly known as the “chimney” or “stack” effect. Hot air rises and escapes through openings near the top of the building, while cold air is drawn in through dock levelers openings door gaps and near the bottom of the building. Depending on temperatures, air movement caused by the chimney effect can move up to 10 mph.

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The solution is a custom strip brush specifically designed to be used as a dock seal. Precision Brush dock seals can stop 99% of air infiltration and can be up to 3 times as effective as vinyl seals.

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