Loading Dock Safety Checklist

Clear shrink wrap, broken pallet stringers, banding, and any spilled liquid from the dock floor and the trailer approach. Pay particular attention to the dock edge where forklift drop-off risk is highest.

Laminated rubber bumpers should project at least 4 inches from the building face. Compressed, torn, or missing bumpers let trailers strike the dock wall and damage the leveler frame — open a work order before the first trailer spots.

Cycle the leveler through full raise, lip extension, and cross-traffic return. Listen for hydraulic whine, watch for lip droop, and confirm the maintenance strut deploys. Note the result below.

Check spring tension, cable fray, panel dents that bind the track, and photo-eye function on motorized doors. A door that drops on a forklift mast is a recordable injury and a citation under 1910.212.

Use standard hand signals or the dock communication light system. Spotter stays in the driver's mirror line — never between the trailer and the dock face during back-up.

Hook the ICC bar with the vehicle restraint and confirm the green interior light. If the trailer has a damaged or rounded RIG bar, fall back to dual wheel chocks on the curb-side rear tire and notify the driver in writing.

Driver delivers keys to the dock office or hangs them on the assigned hook. Trailer creep — driver pulling away mid-unload — is the most common dock fatality cause; keys-in-office removes the risk entirely.

Walk the trailer floor before driving a forklift in. Look for soft spots, missing nail heads, prior load residue, and load shift. A forklift through a rotten trailer floor totals the lift and injures the operator.

ANSI/ISEA 107 Class 2 vest minimum for indoor dock work; Class 3 for yard work after dark. Visitors and drivers without a vest get one issued at the dock office before they cross the yellow line.

ASTM F2413 boots required per OSHA 1910.136. A2-rated gloves for general pallet handling; A4 or higher when breaking down banded loads with utility knives.

OSHA 1910.178(q)(7) requires a daily pre-shift inspection for every powered industrial truck. Cover forks, mast chains, hydraulics, horn, backup alarm, seat belt, brakes, and battery/LPG. Attach photos of any defect found.

PIT (powered industrial truck) certification is valid for 3 years per 1910.178(l)(4)(iii). Pull the operator's training card; expired certifications mean the operator does not run a lift today, no exceptions.

Cross-check the BOL weight against the leveler placard (typically 25,000–30,000 lb) and the forklift data plate. Heavy machinery or coiled steel loads commonly exceed standard dock plate ratings — route those to the heavy-duty bay.

Cycle the red/green light pair at the bay interior and the driver-side exterior. Driver-side green = safe to depart; red = trailer locked. Burned bulbs are a leading cause of trailer pull-away injuries.

Trailer interior lights, dock arm lights, and yard area lighting all need to be operational before first inbound. Dim trailer interior is a top cause of fall-from-edge injuries during deep-trailer unload.

Capture near-misses even when no one was hurt — trailer creep events, dropped loads, mast strikes on overhead doors. Patterns in near-misses are the early warning that shows up before an OSHA recordable.