Positioning Equipment - Dock Leveler

Dock leveler



A dock leveler is a variable grade ramp platform that is used as a bridge between the loading dock floor surface and the surface of the load bed of a transporter vehicle.

Dock leveler are important because
- provide safe and efficient loading and unloading of goods

Basic dock leveler must be able to support extremely heavy loads, provide for wide range of bed heights and accomodate unevenly distributed loads. There are 2 basic models of dock levelers, mechanical and hydraulic.

Mechanical dock leveler



- Typically support the weight of the deck by spring

- springs will push the deck upward when a hold down device is released.

- Operator releases the hold down mechanism to intiate the loading cycle or to reposition the leveler when they are done with loading

- The front lip plate pivots from a hanging position to an extended position when the ramp is risen.

- The extended position is held by other mechanism so that it will stay put.

- Mechanical levelers are also easily to utilised with minimum effort.

- High performance, high capacity system designed to require minimal maintenance

- Advantage of being controlled manually. In case of power failure, the operation will not be affected.

Hydraulic dock leveler



· Are similar to the mechanical dock levelers, the function and even the product are very similar.
· Difference is that hydraulic dock levelers are controlled by remote located on a wall

· The leveler is very user friendly and does not require the operator to do anything other than just pushing the button on the remote.

· Mostly use in application involving high capacities and multiple shifts.

· Also safer as they are much more flexible compare to mechanical.

· Though it is more expensive than mechanical leveler, hydraulic dock leveler does not require much maintence.

Safety precaution:

“according to statistics reported by the us labour department, 7% of he 68000 fork lift accident are due to lift truck running off the loading deck”, therefore good understanding of how the dock leveler works are very important, this is because during the loading/unloading process, accidents are very likely to occur if not handled properly. According to several reports, of all the operations and warehouse location, the loading bay are very like to cause most of the accidents.
This can be due to many reason other then only the dock levelers. Accidents such as:

· the leveler being risen while there are loads still be transported

· height of the leveler is not correct

· lift truck drive off the dock or fall inbetween gap of the dock

· trailer and the operator can be injured in any of the situation mention above

The accident occur very frequently and most of them are fatal, therefore warehouse managers should try their best to minimise the chance of accidents. Examples of accident



Some recommendations to minimise accidents:

- always make sure there is no gap between the trailer and dock

- the sureface of the leveler must not be too slippery

- make sure the leveler can support the weight of the load

- there should be sufficient light for the operator to see where the leveler is

- check for overhead obstructions

- make sure the surrounding and equipment are check daily and not monthly or weekly

- make sure all employers receive proper training on what to do during certain situation

- make sure the employers have sufficient knowledge even if they are not involve in the loading operations

- always keep in contact with the driver in case he drove off while loading

- make sure the leveler is position properly