Over the last year Materials Handling Equipment Company has developed a number of Safety and Ergonomic Training programs. The information in this newsletter contains important safety tips taken from the Warehouse & Dock Safety training courses offered by our firm for warehouse and dock workers and supervisors.

With the booming economy over the last 10 years, American industry has expanded purchasing new capital equipment and warehouse space at a fast pace. So fast that important safety items can be forgotten in the design phase. Yes, safety starts at the design phase!

Thousands of tons of goods are moved through warehouses each and every day. Increased business means increased injuries and increased product damage. But that does not have to be the case, if proper design is used in the planning phase. Proper design can help eliminate many causes of so call "accidents".

TOP CAUSES OF WAREHOUSE & DOCK INJURIES:
· Forklifts overturning
· Manual handling and lifting
· People being struck by powered equipment
· Falls from high places including docks or slips/falls
· Chemical splashes
· Failure to enforce the use of personal protective equipment
· Being injured by unguarded machinery.

A strong facilities safety program starts with the design phase, but also includes emergency preparedness. Are you prepared for emergencies resulting from:
· Weather
· Fire
· Chemical Spills
· Employee inexperience or indifference

Are your employees trained in emergency evacuation procedures such as: Chemical cleanup, Emergency drills, and First Aid.

How have you prepared to protect contractors and visitors to your facilities in an emergency. Are you open to third party law suites if disaster strikes?

RECOMMENDED WAREHOUSE & DOCK SAFEGUARDS

The following is by no means a complete list of safety precautions, but if one or more are lacking in your warehouse, consider a serious review of your current safety program.

	Ensure that wheel chocks or better yet, Doc-Loks or wheel-loks are used on every vehicle at your dock.
	Protect pedestrians traveling through the facility by ensuring that operators of powered industrial trucks are trained to yield the right of way. Mark the floors with yellow tape or paint to identify walkway barriers, doorways, parking aisles, and overhead obstacles.
	Protect people traveling through your facility from sharp corners. Place padding or guards around sharp corners.
	Put an inspection program in place to review palletized materials. If pallets are defective, the product should be moved to a safe pallet.
	Review warehouse ergonomics. Adjust the height of conveyors to eliminate lower back stress. Place heavier products at knee to chest high levels. Limit the amount of weight a worker must carry and allow for assisted lifting from other workers.
	Install guards on conveyor sprockets, gears, and rollers. All pinch points must be protected.
	Place perimeter guards or reinforced metal around or over the openings of sky lights to prevent a fall.
	Use plastic or metal banding to secure product to pallets for transportation or storage. Shrink-wrap loose product for transport or storage. It is very important to secure small items that might fall through the overhead guard of a lift truck.
	Where low hanging electrical equipment, gas pipes, or sprinkler lines can be struck by product or equipment, guards or protective sleeves should be used to prevent damage.

MHECO carries a full range of machine and conveyor guards.

BODY BELTS MAY
NO LONGER BE PERMITTED!

OSHA's newest regulations on fall protection in the construction industry require the use of a body harness rather than body belts for fall protection because the hazards associated with body belts are greatly reduced through the use of a full body harness.

In a June 28th Letter of Interpretation OSHA stated the following:

"Body Harnesses, rather than body belts are the appropriate form of fall protection for employees working on an elevated order picker platform without guardrails. A body belt could be used, however, as a restraint device, that is, when used in conjunction with a Lanyard short enough that the employee cannot fall from the platform".

MHECO offers a full range of lanyards and body harness equipment.

SAD TO REPORT

With most so called "experienced" forklift drivers not being trained to the newest legal requirements, the death toll continues to climb. On August 29th, a 28-year old driver was killed in Denver and on the 6th of September, a 35-year old man was killed and his 28-year old brother injured when the trash bin they were riding in, fell 30 or more feet to the ground from a fork equipped boom truck traveling over rough ground. A Denver motorcycle officer was killed while rushing to the September 6th accident. There have been five forklift deaths so far this year in Colorado. All avoidable if the rules had been followed.

The following information is a condensed version of the information presented
in ANSI publication MH30.1- 1993, section 4.

¨ Employers are required by law to recognize the inherent dangers that exist between the loading dock and the transport vehicle.
¨ Employers should train and instruct their employees - in the safe use of dock leveling devices.
¨ Employers should set up both initial installation and periodic inspections.
¨ Employers must know and follow the maintenance procedures published by the manufacturer of the dock leveling device and written records of maintenance should be kept.
¨ Employers must instruct employees in the proper operation of the dock equipment.
¨ Dock owners must be furnished with copies of replacement parts information for dock leveling devices.
¨ Employers must have tables identifying the grade / slope for all versions of the dock leveler.
¨ Employers must have information identifying the maximum uncontrolled drop upon sudden removal of support (truck pulling away) while within the working range of the equipment.

We want to point out that under the ANSI MH30 committee, no standards currently exist for the strength, construction, or attachment of the underride guard (DOT Bumper/Mansfield Bar) on a transport vehicle.

It is recommended that users of such positive devices (as Dok-Loks) review:
¨ The strength of the overall construction of the actuation devices and of the signaling system used.
¨ The need to use wheel chocks.
¨ The means of attachment to the transport vehicle.

When investing in dock leveling devices, it is important to consider not only present requirements, but also future plans or adverse weather conditions or environments. MHECO can help you with the design installation and maintenance of your dock equipment.

As a supervisor, you're the last line of defense for your company when it comes to OSHA, ADA and other matters. A big part of your job as a supervisor is to enforce safety policies created by others. Steps you can follow to protect the company include:

	Making sure employees understand the rules to begin with.
	Correcting employees the very first time you see a safety rule violated.
	Issue verbal warnings the first few times if an employee ignore the rules.
	Issue written reprimands and warnings after one or two verbal warnings for the same safety issue.
	Terminate employees only as a last resort for repeated violations of the same safety rule

If your crew builds or breaks down pallet loads manually, you could be wasting time and risking serious back injuries. Just one back injury claim this year could cost your firm ten times more in direct and indirect costs than the purchase of modern equipment and safety training.

Modern equipment can mean better productivity, fewer lost days, fewer long term injuries and lower insurance premiums. Products such as pallet pal level loaders, lift tables and high lift pallet jacks have been engineered to lift, move, maneuver, position, and transfer and reach - all without physical wear and tear on your employees.

At the start of the 21st century, isn't it time to move from brute force and strong backs to modern ergonomic manipulators?

Warehouse and Production Machine Guarding

Some employers have too much trust in the manufacturer or distributor of equipment they purchase. I've had supervisors tell me that as long as you don't disable machine guards when the equipment came from the manufacturer or seller, you don't need to worry if you are in compliance with guarding regulations. This thinking is wrong for at least two reasons. First of all, machine guards, like all equipment, needs to be maintained properly. (Check your maintenance logs regularly.) Secondly, very old equipment may not count as being "Grandfathered" into protecting. Remember the General Duty Clause of OSHA.

ELEVATED WORK SAFETY IN THE WAREHOUSE

The modern warehouse has all sorts of equipment to elevate its workers. Aerial Work Platforms, Bucket Trucks, Man-Lifts and Order Pickers are but a few. With complex equipment comes complex training. But what about ladders? When was the last time you saw an elevated work practices training program that covered ladders?

In regard to ladders, employees must understand the rules relating to the use of ladders and must be able to inspect a ladder. In addition, employees must know how to don a fall arrest harness correctly and to understand the rules of proper tie off. Ladder safety training is relatively simple and can be done with a handout covering rules and inspection data. Videos are also available.
For employees who wish to avoid cumbersome harness and fall protection issues, Materials Handling Equipment Company offers a full range of rolling angled stock picking ladders, rolling safety platforms and alternating tread stair systems. Such rolling stairways eliminate the need for bulky harness due to the built in hand rails and are exempt from most ladder regulations.

WHY LIFTING ADVICE IS IGNORED?

How often have you told your employees to "bend your knees" when lifting? Turn you back and they ignored your advice. Why? Well it could be because squatting to lift something form the floor takes more energy than bending over from the waist.

The July issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine has reported on a study involving 20 healthy volunteers. From the information in this study it is clear that in our overweight, out of shape society, people would rather risk back strain than be out of breath.

DRIVE CLEAN OR ELSE!

1910.178 (q)(10) industrial trucks shall be kept in a clean condition, free of lint, excess oil and grease. Non-combustible agents should be used for cleaning trucks. Low flash point (below 100º F) solvent shall not be used. High flash point (at or above 100º F) solvents may be used. Precautions regarding toxicity, ventilation and fire hazard shall be consonant with the agent or solvent used.
Yes folks, OSHA requires you to drive a clean forklift. It's the law!!!

WILLFUL ACTION

Recently, a firm was cited for Willful Negligence by OSHA following the death of an untrained, but "Experienced" operator of a Powered Industrial Truck (forklift).

Willful Negligence is the key word in this citation.

In a "Normal" industrial accident, the next of kin or employee is prevented from suing the employee by our state's workers compensation law.

If, there is proven willful negligence, however, the employer can be tied up in court for years and be forced to hand over millions of dollars because normal comp laws do not apply in willful misconduct cases. Liability is unlimited!