How the Army National Guard Used a Dock Lift to Improve Safety/Ergonomics
AS SEEN IN MODERN MATERIAL HANDLING
Until recently, an employee bringing in the day’s mail at the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, Virginia, risked falling off some concrete steps as he or she held a full bin against a hip with one hand while opening (and holding open) a metal door with the other.
“That door is heavy and opens outward, so it was primarily a safety issue, especially on icy winter days,” explains Wayne Overton, who was called to a meeting last year to help solve the problem. As sales manager for Loading Dock Equipment Co., Inc., a regional distributor of ergonomic labor-saving devices, he was more accustomed to facilitating the loading and unloading of trucks. But it didn’t take him long to evaluate the situation and make a recommendation.
Every weekday, the building’s employees faced the same problem. Sorted first in another building, mail for the Readiness Center is delivered outdoors by handcart, to the back of the building. Outgoing mail was also an issue, as were delivered office supplies. The facility’s loading dock is nearby, but it is only equipped with a “dock leveler” for loading and unloading big trucks.
Even before the initial meeting was over, Overton suspected the solution would be a Dura-Dock™ loading-dock lift from the Maine-based Southworth Products Corp. He was already familiar with the Dura-Dock product line because of its popularity. The versatile lifts transfer loads quickly and safely from any truck bed to any dock height, and vice versa, without ramps or inclines. When he got back to his office in Mechanicsville, Virginia, he consulted Southworth Product Manager David Turkes about the details and confirmed that Southworth could supply a unit with a custom-made, 5x8-foot platform instead of the standard 6x8-foot style. This was necessary so as not to encroach on a nearby storm drain.
Although the National Guard had a dock and did not plan to use the Dura-Dock for unloading trucks, the lift’s design makes it especially useful if the location lacks a dock altogether. The Dura-Dock is one of many products available from Southworth, which offers a large selection of equipment designed to improve productivity and worker safety in numerous applications that involve lifting and positioning. Other Southworth products include work-positioning lift tables, portable lifts, container tilters, and pallet handling equipment. Southworth dock lifts save time and effort at retail outlets, manufacturing plants, warehouses, medical or educational facilities, and other establishments loading goods into or accepting deliveries from more than one type of truck. A lift can be installed to accommodate any dock or loading configuration.
For the National Guard, Overton recommended the widely used Dura-Dock Model DL5-59M, with a capacity of 5,000 pounds. His recommendation was accepted, and the unit was installed in November 2009.
“It was definitely the most cost-effective way to go,” says Overton. “Even with the customization, the price of the unit was lower than that of a competing model I priced out. They were especially pleased, as was I, with the galvanized sub-frame and the biodegradable hydraulic fluid. That, plus the 2-year warranty on all parts and labor, the standard 10-year structural warranty, and of course the pricing, really sold them on the Dura-Dock. An extra bonus was the assistance Southworth gave throughout the process.”
The Dura-Dock was mounted in a concrete pit so its lowered platform would be at grade level when not in use. The pit has its own drain in the base to prevent water from collecting. In this case, the pit drains into the adjacent storm drain.
In addition to offering technical advice and service before, during, and after installation, Southworth coordinates the shipping of its equipment. In this case, Southworth arranged for the Dura-Dock to be delivered on a boom truck so that the unit could be offloaded directly into the pit without the need for any additional equipment. The lift was installed by Loading Dock Equipment Co. with the assistance of Cjw Contractors, Inc., the project’s main contractor. Cjw also built the concrete pit.
These days, bringing in the mail is a whole lot easier at the Readiness Center, as well as safer. The employees lower the Dura-Dock’s platform to ground level with Southworth’s standard weatherproof pushbutton NEMA-4X control, load it up with boxes and bins, raise it to the dock, and offload items with a handcart. The Readiness Center maintenance staff and visiting repair persons also use the Dura-Dock when they need to bring heavy maintenance equipment into or out of the building.
Dura-Dock lifts are available with a capacity of 5,000 or 6,000 pounds and feature standard corrosion-resistant, galvanized bases and legs. For higher-capacity Southworth lifts (up to 20,000 pounds), galvanized construction is optional. Platform sizes range from 6x8 feet to 8x10 feet. All Southworth dock lifts work from grade level to a maximum height of 59 inches. Additional standard Dura-Dock features include a steel, diamond-tread platform with beveled toe-guards painted yellow for safety; an 18x72-inch, hinged, steel, diamond-tread throw-over plate; removable steel handrails with mid-rails and 4-inch-high kickplates; hardened steel pins operating in self-lubricated bearings at all pivot points; adjustable yet uniform lowering speed with a pressure-compensated flow-control valve; and excess flow protection for controlled descent in the unlikely event of a rupture in the hydraulic line. All Southworth dock lifts conform to ANSI Standard MH29.1.
