There are many products that will help keep your employees safer on the loading platform. Here we discuss a few of them and why they're so important.
Gangways
Gangways provide safety and efficiency for employees when they have to access rail cars and tank trucks. With gangways, workers can walk safely from the loading platform across to the top of a truck or rail car. There are different types of gangways that fulfill different needs – telescoping, flat ramp, and self-leveling staircase. There are also different types of installation including: fold down, pivoting and tracking.
Most gangways can be mounted on a track so they’ll roll horizontally from one end of the loading rack to another. These tracking gangways work well with a variety of truck and hatch configurations. They are ideal when versatility is needed. Every gangway tracking carriage is designed with heavy-duty rollers for smooth tracking and should be maintenance-free. Tracking can be on one side of the loading platform or both with fixed handrails as an option.
Wider gangways enhance safety by allowing operators improved access to more vehicles and configuration styles. These wider gangways offer greater safety and efficiency when accessing rail cars and tank trucks by protecting against potential mis-spotting and improving ease of use with some available power options.
Swing Gates
A spring-loaded gate is an easy, effective, and low cost way to protect against a potentially deadly fall. Because the gate opens only one way — away from the opening – personnel cannot accidentally back out of the opening. This, along with automatic closing provides your operators with maximum safety. Swing gates must meet or exceed ANSI / OSHA regulations and can often be retro fitted to existing gangways.
Cement Safety Cages
The number one safety issue for truck drivers is mis-spotted trucks. Cement gangway safety cages are designed to help drivers access the hatch on their hopper trucks safely and efficiently.
The design has two panels that lift up inside the cage to allow a hopper truck’s hatch to be opened or closed without having to lift the entire safety cage whenever a truck is mis-spotted. Often when trucks are mis-spotted, in order to save time the operators may compromise their own safety as opposed to taking the time to reposition their trucks. The cement safety cage is offset so the gangway doesn’t interfere with the truck hatch. Because they’re made using heavy-duty aluminum pipe these safety cages can really take a beating but are surprisingly lightweight.
Carbis has vast experience in designing and constructing all types of fall prevention for trucks and rail cars. Contact us today to find out how we can improve fall prevention at your company’s job site.
