W.E. Carlson—Vehicle Restraints: Reduce Loading Dock Accidents and WBV with STR-4100 Dok Lok

Vehicle Restraints

Case Study: Rite-Hite Vehicle Restraint Prevents Catastrophe

Vehicle restraints, or trailer restraints, were first introduced by Rite-Hite in 1980 as a better solution than ineffective wheel chocks. Vehicle restraints latch onto trailers to keep them from separating from the dock during loading/unloading. There are five typical causes of serious accidents and injuries that can be minimized through the use of vehicle restraints:

Trailer Creep (Dock Walk)—The trailer gradually moves away from the dock due to the ongoing momentum of the forklift traveling in and out of it, especially in air-ride trailers.

Early Departure—The truck driver pulls away from the dock before loading operations are complete.

Landing Gear Failure—Weak or corroded landing gear give way during loading and the trailer collapses.

Trailer Upending—A form of trailer tipover, usually on pup trailers, where the first heavy load placed in the nose of the trailer causes the rear of the trailer to rise.

Trailer Drop—Causes forklift drivers’ chronic back and neck injuries and damages product and equipment as the trailer moves up and down from the weight of forklift loading and unloading.

Trailers equipped with air-ride suspensions can drop up to 8 inches. Rite-Hite’s revolutionary new STR-4100 Dok-Lok Vehicle Restraint —part of the Smooth Transition Dok System and a 2005 Plant Engineering Product of the Year award winner—is the only vehicle restraint on the market that stabilizes both horizontal and vertical trailer movement, reducing the costly effects of whole body vibration: forklift operator injuries, product damage, and damage to loading dock equipment.

W.E. Carlson strongly recommends vehicle restraints to all of our customers and can work with you to decide what works best for your application, environment and budget. Other options include:

RHR-1000 Dok-Lok^�
The RHR-1000 Dok-Lok^� is our premium restraint, offering the highest level of safety and performance with a unique rotating hook design. Its 9" low-profile housing accommodates the largest variety of trailer rear impact guards.

RHR-600 Dok-Lok^�
The popular RHR-600 Dok-Lok^� offers a rotating hook that reaches over 6" to help maintain engagement in below-dock endload situations, and powerful extension springs to provide superior upward force against the rear impact guard to keep trailer secure during loading.

VBR-500 Dok-Lok^�
The VBR-500 Dok-Lok^� is a flexible, virtually maintenance-free, recessed system designed to secure a trailer by engaging its rear impact guard with a large, vertical barrier, allowing specialty trailers and trailers with liftgates to access the loading dock.

VBR-300 Dok-Lok^�
The VBR-300 Dok-Lok^� is a ground stored, vertical barrier restraint that addresses accidents caused by the basic types of trailer separation. Available in Auto-light and Mechanical styles.

Global Wheel-Lok™
The Global Wheel-Lok™ restraint engages the trailer's rear tire with one 20" barrier to provide safe engagement of virtually all trailer types, including those without effective rear impact guards.

Manual Wheel-Lok™
The cost-effective Manual Wheel-Lok™ vehicle restraint offers simple operation in a versatile design for companies that serve a wide variety of trailers, such as liftgates or trailers without rear impact guards (RIGs). Can be conveniently positioned, with minimal force, in front of rearmost or front, rear tire for reliable engagement. For more information on the MWL, check out the W.E. Carlson e-Newsletter.

Rite-Vu™ Light Communication System
Rite-Vu Light Communication System is a complete detection and visual management safety system designed to help reduce forklift-pedestrian collisions and catastrophic trailer separation accidents. Three separate products provide clear, concise visual communication to the right person, in the right location at the right time:

• Pedestrian-Vu warns loading dock personnel that a forklift is inside a trailer.

• Corner-Vu provides immediate Dok-Lok status-at-a-glance to the forklift driver before entering the trailer.

• Leveler-Vu confirms Dok-Lok status to the forklift driver while inside the trailer.

Light Communication System
The Light Communication System is a low-cost way to improve dock safety by improved communication between truck drivers and your dock personnel. The simple red and green lights provide clear signals to dock workers inside and truck drivers outside.

Dok-Commander™
Rite-Hite’s Dok-Commander™ Combination Control Panel is an easy-to-operate centralized panel that improves productivity and dock safety by integrating multiple control components at each dock position, from the dock leveler and vehicle restraint to the lights and fan, to ensure equipment is used in the proper sequence.

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