Warehouse/Dock Material Handling
We have a trouble area where an employee is responsible for unloading/loading items from/to trucks but they are reluctant to participate in an ergonomic assessment. Most of my experience has been with manufacturing and research processes, not large material handling, so I’m coming to you all.
Does anybody have recommendations or best practices for warehouse or dock material handling?
Comments (9)
What's involved with the assessment?
Why are they reluctant to participate?
First things for dock safety that I've experienced are:
Make sure the truck is turned-off, brakes set and blocked. Some places require the driver to turn their keys in before they can be loaded or off-loaded.
What is your employee using to unload the truck? Fork truck, pallet Jack, power walkie? Those may impact the assessment. Also, what does the employee normally unload?
I would buy some guys lunch/coffee and just talk about their observations and experiences. Get to know them on a personal level. Most innovative ideas that actually work, come from the end users. This also gives them an opportunity and an avenue to discuss any other issues that might need to be immediately addressed.