Virginia Beach workers employed at facilities with loading docks need to make safety their number one priority whenever they’re unloading a semi-trailer. Truck drivers need to keep the safety of themselves and others as their first priority too. One thing that truckers commonly refrain from doing, however, is to chock their wheels with blocks when they pull their tractor-trailers into a loading dock. What do the safety regulators say about this question?
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the use of parking blocks in loading areas is covered under workplace safety rules. According to regulations, all facilities with loading areas need to have parking blocks available for chocking the wheels of semi-trucks in their loading areas. However, their use is not always required.
Regulations imply that heavy haulers, pulpwood trailers and agricultural commodity trailers need to chock their wheels in loading docks. However, other types of trailers are not required to do so by the law. However, OSHA and FMCSA safety regulations should never be considered “overkill” when it comes to safety. Indeed, these regulations are the barest minimum of safety requirements that employers are asked to adhere to.
Virginia Beach employers may want to consider writing into their safety handbooks that the use of chocking blocks are required when loading and unloading trucks in loading docks. Indeed, the safety requirement is not a huge inconvenience, and it could potentially save someone’s life or prevent a serious injury in the long run.
Injured Virginia Beach employees who suffered their injuries on the job will — in most cases — have the ability pursue workers’ compensation benefits. Having an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer on one’s side while claiming such benefits can be an enormous aid during the benefits application process.
Source: Reliable Plant, “To chock or not to chock? That is a safety question,” accessed Feb. 10, 2017