Miscommunication leads to forklift driver death

This incident is indeed a tragedy. Seems to me that the fork lift driver is somewhat to blame. The dock supervisor who told the driver to move has some responsibility for all this too.

About 2.5 years ago I teamed with an ex-girlfriend of mine. We were delivering a load to a small warehouse in northeastern Tennessee. This place only had one dock door. There was no light/docklock system. In fact, the company seldom unloaded trucks at this warehouse. It was sort of an overflow warehouse.

My co-driver put it in the dock and handed the bills to the forklift operator. I was in the bunk. She stayed in the driver's seat finishing paperwork and sending in the appropriate messages to dispatch on the qualcom. After at least 45 minutes and what felt like 1000 trips in and out of the trailer by the forklift, the operator knocked on the door. He informed my co-driver that he had ran out of propane and needed to go to another building (several blocks away) to get a full tank. He handed us the bills and took off in a pick up truck. My co-driver released the brakes and pulled away from the dock. As we circled towards the exit I saw from the passenger seat the forklift, minus the propane tank, on the ground. The forks were in the dirt and the counterweight was hanging on the dock plate. I hollered for her to stop and told her what I was seeing. She asked what should she do and I said JUST GO! GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE! She ran to the back of the trailer to close the doors, only to find out WE WERE STILL 50% loaded! Well, about 5 minutes later the forklift operator came back and saw the mess we had made. A phone call was made and several big wigs came out to survey the disaster. Everyone's opinion was that since no one was hurt, and as long as the forklift was still operational, there would be no accident report. They brought a bigger forklift over to lift the other one into the building. It started right up, once the full propane tank was put in place. She was so upset with herself at what had happened that I put the truck back in the dock and handed the forklift operator the keys to our rig.

No one was hurt, and thankfully it was just a lesson learned for both myself and my co-driver.

 

I always check to see that the dock plate is out of my trailer before I pull away from the dock.

I have seen guys hook onto trailers, who havent even been onto the dock to see what their freight looks like etc, pull away without checking a thing. Then they stop, with astonished faces, when they hear the dock plate come crashing down. You can see them wander to the back of their trailer wondering what happened... I always wonder where they bought their CDL.

 

Some places I have been to just release the dock lock-leaving the dock plate up, and letting it crash down when you pull away.
(Btw I am of course talking about the extendable dock plate, not the drop-in kind.)
I know I've been to many a place, that ddin't bother with docklocks if you were only going to be there for a few minutes; then there are the places with extensive dock realted by-laws and procedures. Too bad this place wasn't more strict with some procedures of their own.

 

Now adays you never know what you are getting into at a dock .... better to make sure that you are fully clear of any forklifts and people before leaving

 

When I go to pull away from a dock,I pull the chocks,bang on the side of the trailer as I'm walkin to the truck,mash the brakes 2 times(you can hear that distinct squeal and hiss) then pull up about a foot an a half - 2 feet and get out and walk back and check the dock door.2 feet ain't enough for a forklift to fall between.I do this every time even though I may have been inside and saw them close the door,release the dock lock give the green light AND tell me I'm ready to go and give me the bills.You never know if someone thought they had time to run in and put that forgotten packing slip in or that one last skid they missed.It's a pain in the butt but if it saves a life or keeps from hurting someone it's worth it.

 

omg...

i can't imagine the sequence of events that led to this... how do you leave a shipper w/o your codriver/wife and not miss them for a couple days?

 

Maybe he never had a trip so peaceful and just wanted to enjoy it?











Sorry, I don't put a lot of stock in:

 

The codriver I believe was from another truck and got into the wrong trailer before being pinned between pallets.

 

Oh man, that is so sad! I have seen this before though...it isn't totally unusual. Yup, dock locks should always be used I think! Well worth the money for those locks!

 

You got that right! I either walk back there and peak into the warehouse from outside or walk in and check visually. We had this happen at a Ford plant over in Windsor ON. Same deal, but for some reason the fork lift did not fall to the ground, it was hung up on the dock. Maybe an angel?

Get out and LOOK! There is so much more to this job than just holding a steering wheel while bouncing down the road.

Mike