Best Fall Protection Solution for Your Facility

Elevated work platforms are found in almost every industrial facility — fall protection equipment is necessary in all facilities that feature any elevated workspace. OSHA’s fall protection codes require the equipment at 48 inches, and ANSI standards list 36 inches as the required height. Dual-gate safety systems are most often the best fall protection solution, but facilities are very diverse, and there are particular safety solutions that work best in each type of facility.

While most safety gate models are dependent on the application, certain designs lend themselves to a specific type of facility. We’ve put together a quick guide to selecting the right safety gate for each type of facility.

Production Facility:
Facilities like food processing or chemical plants often feature production platforms with tight quarters on elevated platforms. Overhead hoists are often used near the platforms to load super sacks to elevated areas so employees could mix the ingredients into the hoppers. The Open Top safety gate model is ideal for areas with overhead equipment because this design uses an interconnected dual-gate system without any overhead mechanics that ensures one gate is always protecting the employees from the ledge. This design allows the hoist to access the area from above while keeping the employee a safe distance from the ledge.

Tri-Side safety gate models are popular for areas loaded by a lift truck with limited depth due to the location of the hoppers. This design uses a cantilevered rear-side gate that lifts up and out of the way to allow access around the pallet in tight environments while always keeping the ledge secured. Our safety gate designs can be made in stainless steel if the facility environment is hostile or the gate is exposed to frequent rinsing.

Distribution Center:
These facilities often feature rack-supported pick modules. The original rack-supported dual-gate system, the Rack-Supported Roly gate, is often the best choice for fall protection in most of these configurations, as the gates never extend into the truck or picking aisle, and do not interfere with the truck loading the upper levels of multi-level picking systems. The gates open and close within the confines of the pallet drop area so the gate at the ledge opens and closes flush with the ledge and the rear gate is flush with the rear uprights of the system.

If the picking bays include pallet flow lanes in which multiple pallets deep are loaded, then you should install a version of the Rack-Supported Roly gate that is designed as deep as the flow lane. The additional depth ensures there is a gate in place at all times and prevents an employee from entering the aisle while the area is being loaded. This is especially important in a cluster-picking design where employees travel an aisle between the lanes to pick from multiple pallets at the same time.

Record Retention Centers:
Many storage facilities feature elevated work areas with limited headroom, and in these buildings, the Pivot safety gate is the best choice, as the design operates on only two pivot points and can fit into areas with limited space. In facilities with multi-level rack systems, the Rack Supported Pivot safety gate is the best choice, as it provides the most free space behind the pallet. With the pivoting framework, the rear gate extends back beyond the upright to secure the pallet, then moves out of the way when the ledge gate is closed, eliminating the need for a permanent structure to be located behind the upright.

Stand-Alone Facility:
Some facilities, like grocery and retail stores, feature elevated areas on which employees work. The most popular of these is a loading dock - often the busiest place in a facility, they pose a number of safety hazards.

For example, we worked with a supermarket chain to provide fall protection in their loading dock. On the lifts used in the dock, our Dock-Lift safety gate features gates that automatically open and close to provide fall protection while material is moved from the lift, truck and dock. On the loading dock, our Loading Dock Safety Gate is ideal as this design is single-gate system that allows the employee on the loading dock to raise and lock open when the tractor trailer is in place, and automatically close once the truck drives away from the area.

Large retail stores and museums can often feature elevated work platforms or mezzanines, and in most of these facilities, our Roly safety gate is often the best model to provide fall protection. The Roly safety gate is the most flexible in terms of size, and is the best model if the safety gate needs to be operated remotely from the lower level or a lift truck.

While the guide above outlines the most popular designs for each facility, your specific application may need a custom design. We are always happy to help you determine the right design for your application, and look forward to helping you choose the best safety gate for your facility.

Customizing Pivot Safety Gates

Pivot safety gates are one of our most popular designs. There is a good reason for that – with its simplistic design and few moving parts, it is often a good choice for fall protection and securing pallet drop areas on elevated work platforms and mezzanines in material handling and warehousing facilities. When we invented the design back in the early 1990s, it was to fit in a very specific environment - one with low available headroom in the record retention centers of Pierce Leahy Archives (the company was later purchased by Iron Mountain). The design, operating on only two pivot points, allowed the gates to fit in limited space while maintaining a safe environment for employees.

At the time years ago, the Pivot model was primarily used to secure elevated pallet drop areas with this type of limited headroom area while our original dual-gate system, the Roly® model, was used for standard pallet drop applications and custom designs.

Over time, customers began requesting the Pivot model in standard pallet drop areas because they liked the simplistic design. Then we started receiving requests for the Pivot model to fit some custom areas, including one request from Cardinal Health, which wanted to use the design but needed to accommodate taller pallet loads. So we customized the Pivot model to include additional pivot points that gate to clear taller pallets.

Another customer wanted to use the Pivot model on a mezzanine with limited depth - the custom requests continued. As we worked to engineer gates to fulfill the custom needs of our customers, we soon learned that the Pivot model could be engineered to fit many different environments. The safety gate could be engineered to accommodate very wide loads, multiple deep pallets, extra tall pallets, as well as to fit within various space limitations.

The Pivot model’s popularity also grew because with few moving parts, it could be installed in and withstand hostile environments. In additional to powder-coated mild steel, we can make the unit entirely in stainless or galvanized, in square tubing or with structural steel.

Customizing safety gates to fit within your specific environment is our specialty. Pivot safety gates are one of our designs that really lends itself to customization. We never thought when we invented the Pivot model that it would be one of our more versatile gates, and we send a huge thank you to our customers who have always inspired us to create new solutions. If you have an area that needs fall protection, but find that a standard size really will not work, let us know and we can work to create something that works for your environment.