Safety Precautions You Should Take With Overhead Doors

Overhead doors, such as those seen in docking bays, are extremely large and very heavy. They can cause quite a bit of injury to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be in the way of the doors as they are coming down. Here are some safety precautions you can take with these massive overhead doors to keep everyone on the docks safe.

Post Warning Signs

Posting warning signs is your first line of defense. When all of the workers know of the dangers presented with these doors, then they will know to avoid them when the doors are in operation. This includes warning signs about head and neck injuries, and pinch injuries as well. Place the signs on the panels of the doors at eye level, or to the side of the doors where the controls are located.

Install Garage Door Openers With Emergency Shut-off Controls

There are heavy duty garage door openers made just for these types of doors. By installing the garage door opener, far fewer injuries occur as the workers will not have to open or close the doors manually. Also, be sure to install a garage door opener system that has auto-stop emergency controls in the event that the door is closing and someone accidentally slips in the way of the door. Stranger accidents have been known to happen, but this kind of accident is one-hundred-percent preventable. 

Install Warning Alarms

In addition to installing the opener and emergency shut-off system, install warning alarms too. This is usually an alarm that is triggered via sensors when someone gets too close to the doors. When the door is not in motion, the alarms are off. When the door is in motion, and someone gets to close, an alarm sounds warning the person to back up. If you have any workers that are deaf or hard-of-hearing, you can add a blinking light alarm system too.

Training Meetings

Dock safety is one thing. Overhead door operation safety should be another. Be sure your dock workers are all trained on door operation, and alarm engagement and disengagement. When everyone is aware of dock safety procedures and door operation, you can go months at a time without an injury. If you cannot find an appropriate training packet or training video, develop one yourself or hire a local video production crew. Then use those materials to train the rest of the crew before they start work their first day.

For more safety tips for using your overhead doors, contact companies like Anderson Door Co Of Michigan.