Winters in Sacramento are wet, humid and erratic. Cold days mixed with unseasonably warm days and a couple real freezes thrown in there for good measure. You’ve likely noticed this cold and wet season is when most of your safety incidents occur; winter can wreak havoc on loading dock equipment and freight truck doors, too.

And if you have also laxed on winterizing your facility, well, at this point you’re just asking for something terrible to happen, like a broken overhead dock door or, worse, an incident that injures an employee. If you know what to look out for, winter can be easier to manage with just a bit of due diligence.

Winter Weather Hazards to Look Out For

When we’re talking about a commercial facility, there are several facets to improving your cold-weather safety procedures. Consider efficiency, safety and compliance:

Efficiency Obstacles that Come with the Cold

Water and metal are not friends, and the constant wet humidity of Sacramento winters, combined with the freezing and thawing, can render a poorly-maintained dock, leveler, rollup door, or tractor trailer door to malfunction or stop working altogether.

Safety Concerns Should Take Center Stage

It’s not just your business’ bottom line you have to protect; your people are even more important. Floors, metal dock grates and steel transitions are all very slippery when wet. Fail to pay attention to water intrusion and floor navigability, and you’ll have a workers’ comp claim on your hands in no time.

Don’t Forget Compliance Standards & Regulations

Health and safety isn’t just for food facilities. Standing water is the perfect breeding ground for harmful mold spores and bacteria. Not to mention that any poorly-sealed doors at your facility will almost definitely let in bugs and other vermin looking for a warm place to sleep.

What You Can Do to Keep Your Employees & Property Safe

Avoiding these winter pitfalls is all about preparation. Maybe Christmas-in-July the whole thing and start your cold-season prep then. Brainstorm potential incidents that just naturally come with winter no matter how well you prepare, and implement seasonal safety measures. Have a professional in commercial and industrial exterior doors take a look around your facility, its loading dock, any industrial overhead doors, and your fleet’s trailer doors. They can nip any potential problems in the bud and suggest other ways to help winterize your building, like door seals, dock seals and dock covers.