A dairy company found itself with a safety challenge. Their employee’s safety was at risk and it was difficult to inspect, load, unload and service the company’s milk trucks. Additionally, operators needed to break/check the hatch seals and sample the raw milk for contaminants before getting processed in the plant. The trucks had to be backed into the loading zone under an old canopy with a very low overhead clearance. Operators had to access the tops of these dairy trucks via a homemade overhead catwalk with no fall prevention. Once they got to the top of the trucks, their safety was at risk, every time.
They needed a solution and they reached out to the safety experts at SafeRack to help them solve this challenge.
After visiting the site and speaking with the team, SafeRack determined that a new double-sided platform had to be designed and built to work within their space constraints.
The bottom of steel (BOS) was only 17’ under the existing canopy and SafeRack was limited to a width of 25’ to work with, which resulted in having to utilize modified gangway mounts to work with the very close truck centerlines of 5’-4” on each side of the access catwalk.
An additional concern from the customer was aligning the vehicles properly when backing in, as they had an at-grade guardrail system to assist. The SafeRack team suggested designing a modified platform with a raised curb to assist the drivers. There was also a 7-degree slope to the rear that needed to be addressed with the curb/island and rear stair. SafeRack proposed a turn-key solution whereby they would install the custom platform as well.
The team at the dairy truck company found the project to be a huge success. They worked hand-in-hand with the SafeRack team and the results left both parties happy.
