Friday 31 January 2014

Why Should I Have My Industrial Doors Maintained?

There are plenty of good reasons as to why a business should ensure that their roller shutter doors are maintained correctly.  Not only does it help to ensure the door works to its full potential at all times, but it can also help to reduce the risk of accidental damage to an employee or a visitor to the premises. 

Once a brand new roller shutter door has been installed, many companies may overlook the need to book the door in for future maintenance checks, but if a door is in constant use or if it is damaged in anyway, this can cause a potential hazard.

Here are some great reasons for carrying out regular roller shutter door maintenance:

  • It’s a legal requirement – businesses need to ensure that their equipment is in safe working order all times to protect the safety of the employees as well as any visitors to the site.

  •  Maintaining the door helps to prolong the operational life of the door, and can reduce the likelihood for the door to be replaced sooner than necessary.

  • Prevents potential downtime – the last thing a business needs is for time to be wasted if work cannot continue until a broken door has been fixed.  Regular industrial door servicing can help to identify any potential problems before they escalate into much larger issues.

  • Reduces the need for expensive emergency call outs – it’s far cheaper to book a routine service check-up than it is to call out an emergency engineer once a problem has already been caused!



Of course, there are times when a door has been damaged accidently and an engineer will need to be called out, sometimes this is unavoidable.  However, most problems can be picked up during a routine maintenance check in order to avoid this time consuming and often costly procedure.

It may seem like another task which needs to be organised, but setting up a regular service and maintenance contract for industrial doors couldn’t be easier.  Most servicing plans can be set up to suit a business’s budget and a detailed service wallet can be kept for each relevant door within the company premises.




To find out more about the roller shutter door maintenance packages offered by Amber Doors, feel free to visit our website.

Thursday 2 January 2014

Preventing Accidents By Improving Loading Bay Safety Procedures

Even after many improvements to loading bay equipment over the years, the continued number of accidents suggest that loading bays remain the most dangerous part of any warehouse. Forklifts and trucks are very often implicated in these accidents, however, similarly to loading bay equipment, much has been done to improve the safety of forklifts, trucks and other vehicles in a loading situation. Statistics show that the vast majority of injuries and fatalities related to loading bays are not to truck drivers or shutter door operators, but to pedestrians walking around them.

This statistic shows that the solution to improving loading bay safety is not to improve the safety of equipment, but to improve procedural safety and to improve housekeeping so as to avoid loading bay accidents. No matter how many safety devices are present at a particular loading bay, accidents can still happen if safety procedures are not followed by individuals and a loading bay area is not kept tidy.

Safety training is key to improving loading bay safety procedures. Any individuals involved in working near a loading bay should be fully trained and inducted to exercise correct loading bay safety procedures, including forklift and truck drivers. Extra care should be taken when training any temporary staff that are not familiar with loading bay equipment, forklifts or any other vehicles that could be a hazard. Care should also be taken to make use of necessary safety signs around loading bays, warning pedestrians and drivers of possible hazards. Signs must be displayed or mounted so that they can be seen clearly.

Lighting is very important in assuring safety in loadingbays. It is important that forklift or truck drivers are presented with adequate light to be able to discern all pedestrians and objects clearly to prevent possible collisions. Likewise, designated areas for pedestrians only must be marked clearly for pedestrians and drivers to see. A large number of cases where pedestrians are hit are because the driver does not see the pedestrian that they hit.

Although training and sufficient lighting is essential in improving loading bay safety, good house-keeping can play just as big a part in preventing loading bay accidents. Debris or obstacles lying around a loading bay floor, or even potholes or other damages to floor surfaces can not only cause accidents, but also cause serious and expensive damage to vehicles and other loading bay equipment, and any stored goods.

All individuals near loading bays must be sure to stand clear when opening vehicle or container doors in case something is not packed or stored safely and may fall out and cause serious injury or worse. People must also take care to stay clear or heavy roller shutter doors, which are very heavy and could be extremely dangerous if not operated correctly.


All of these procedures must be implemented in order to improve loading bay safety procedures and prevent accidents in loading bays. To find out more about loading bay safety, you can visit www.amberdoors.co.uk

Welcome to the Amber Doors Blog

Welcome to the Amber Doors blog.  We hope that in creating this blog we can share some of our wisdom and experience from the world of industrial roller shutter doors and loading bay services. 

We offer tailor made security solutions for domestic, commercial and industrial customers across the West Midlands and beyond and in this blog we hope to help prospective customers and those who are charged with maintaining their own industrial shutter doors to find out more information.

Please do visit this blog for tips and advice on choosing and maintaining industrial door systems and if you would like more information you can always visit the Amber Doors website.