Communication is key to loading bay safety

This is vital as loading operations become more complex, the increasing number of backhaul vehicles arriving for live loading and the need to communicate with foreign drivers.

What is a drive-away?

Drive-aways normally occur due to a misunderstanding between the person loading the vehicle and/or the person in charge of the loading, and the lorry driver. The driver believes it is safe to pull off a bay but there is someone still loading the vehicle. There have been a number of high profile injuries and fatalities in this area and a significant number of near misses. It is also possible to have side drive-aways, where a curtain-sided vehicle is being loaded from the side, and the lorry driver does not see the loader, pulling away when the forks are engaged and causing the FLT to flip over.

Here are the aspects operators should consider to avoid damage, injuries and potential fatalities:

Look at who really owns dock safety – is there a gap in understanding and communication?

Talk to drivers and loaders. What assumptions are they making about each other’s tasks? Are short cuts being taken? Are staff concerned but don’t know where to raise these issues? Is it clear to them what to do if they feel a driver is behaving in an unsafe manner? Make sure drivers know how to report concerns. They may be really worried about lax procedures but be unclear what to do – if they report to their supervisor back at base does anything ever get done?

Look at behaviour of the driver, the loader and the person in charge – and control what you can

When drive-aways occur, there is normally a break-down in communication as well as equipment failure or over-ride of any safety system put in place. This could be drivers retaining a second set of keys to watch TV in the cab or loaders working out how to disable interlocks to get the job done more quickly. Loaders and dock supervisors have the most to lose if the driver pulls off, so it is worth focussing on them. If they refuse to load a vehicle unless all the controls are in place, drive-aways are far less likely to occur.

Put a system in place – then monitor, audit and review regularly

Many companies will have a serious incident, address the risk of drive-aways with a technical solution then “fit and forget”. However, it does not take long for complacency to creep in and incident investigations involving broken traffic lights and missing controls are commonplace. If obeying traffic light signals are a key control, there must be a system for rectifying defects quickly, otherwise pulling off on red becomes the norm, the lights are “always broken” – and then someone gets killed. 

Design in prevention for all scenarios

It is important to look at all loading eventualities – own fleet, foreign vehicles & drivers, agency staff (both drivers and loaders), drop and swap, live loading, backhaul vehicles, third tier sub-contractors, rigids, containers, loading round the side, busy periods, congested yards – and risk assess all scenarios concentrating on the environment, not just the obvious “normal working” technical solutions or controls. Incidents often happen when things are not “business as usual”. Make systems appropriate to the type of loading.

Communicate effectively

Look at communication methods – are you reliant on security staff getting a specific message across in a multitude of languages? Do you rely on laminated hand-outs in English? Some of the best communication systems for visiting drivers now involve giving them a short presentation to watch, which is largely in pictogram format, on a basic ruggedized tablet PC which they have to read before entering the site and hand back to the security guard. 

Use near miss data wisely

Treat drive-away near misses according to potential severity, not what actually happened; focus on the consequences of risk and take action by investigating root causes. There can be a climate of “phew, that was lucky” and everyone moves on without learning vital lessons, only to be less lucky next time.