Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoDock Safety & Detention Conduct

Start with the approach

Every dock has traffic you don't control — forklifts, other trucks, pedestrians cutting across lanes. Slow down in the yard. Yield to forklifts; they can't stop as fast as you'd think, and the load often blocks the operator's view more than you'd guess.

Once you're spotted, set the brakes and chock the wheels before anyone starts working the trailer. Chocks go on the low side, tight against the tread, both sides if the lot has any slope at all.

Check the dock plate or leveler before it's used. It carries a rated capacity, and an overloaded plate can fold under a loaded forklift. If the gap between the trailer and the dock looks wrong, or the leveler looks damaged, stop and flag it — don't guess.

Inside the trailer, wear your high-visibility vest and hard hat if the site requires them, and stay clear of the forklift's path. Don't stand in blind corners, don't walk behind a lift that's backing, and keep your phone away while equipment is moving around you.

Now, detention

Here's the part drivers get wrong: waiting at a dock is on-duty time unless you've been relieved of all duty. Once you're detained, your fourteen-hour on-duty clock keeps running whether you're driving or not — it doesn't pause because the shipper's slow.

Your company standard: chock before anyone works the trailer, get out and look before backing blind, wear the PPE the site requires, and document your dock time — arrival, start of loading, and release — every single time.

Treat the dock the way you'd treat the highway: mirrors up, head up, and assume the other guy hasn't seen you yet. It's a small piece of the trip, but it's where a lot of real injuries happen, and it's entirely within your control.