Clearway Gritting offers winter gritting services to all private businesses. Many of our commercial and industrial clients use loading bays or loading docks to regularly load or unload goods and these require regular gritting during the winter so they can remain open.
When we discuss gritting contracts with our clients the loading bay is one of the key areas they require gritting along with their building entrances, pedestrian walkways, paths, company car parks and private access roads.
Loading bay gritting keeps your key service areas free from snow and ice
As the loading bay or service yard is part of your company infrastructure which links to your warehouse either through a staging area or rooms used for storing goods, it must be kept free from snow and ice at all times, otherwise your business will not be able to trade in bad weather.
Health & Safety Executive (HSE) recommendations for avoiding accidents in the loading bay
The storage and transport sector have a high rate of injury as they use specialist equipment such as fork lift trucks in their loading bay. According to the HSE 2020 survey of non-fatal injuries at work, 29% occurred due to slips, trips and falls, 19% from handling, lifting or carrying and 11% involved being struck by a moving object. In terms of your loading area the HSE recommend all businesses set up their loading and unloading areas in a safe and suitable place. Have two exit points in wide loading areas and have an extra pedestrian exit in larger loading areas. They also recommend that loading areas are arranged in bays so vehicles can easily park in a designated area with a raised platform for vehicles to park against so staff can move into retrieve the load safely. It is also important to make sure there is enough space around each bay so staff can move around safely.
HSE recommend loading bay gritting in bad weather
To ensure that you avoid accidents in your loading area or service yard, HSE recommend assessing the risks where you load and unload goods and put a system in place to grit your loading bay in winter to effectively manage ice, frost and snow.
Use Clearway Gritting for loading bay gritting
Clearway Gritting is a regional gritter and the largest winter gritting company operating in the south east, established in 2004.
With a head office in St Albans our experienced teams operate from the following hubs and they are never more than a 30-minute journey from our industrial and commercial clients.
- Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Gritting Depot
- Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Gritting Depot
- Harlow, Essex Gritting
- High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Gritting Depot
- Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Gritting Depot
Andrew Sherriff, Director, Clearway Gritting St Albans, Hertfordshire said:
‘It is important that all businesses organise a winter gritting contractor now as snow and ice are still forecast this season. It’s still possible to set up a winter gritting contract with Clearway Gritting, but if you call us to grit your service yard when the snow arrives it will be too late. We can offer gritting discounts because of the density of clients in local areas where we operate. If you want to make sure your loading bay always remains open, please contact us on 01727 851837 to discuss a personalised winter gritting contract. We use the most modern well-maintained winter gritting equipment manufactured by Econ Engineering Limited who are the largest manufacturer of winter gritting and salt spreading vehicles in the UK, so you can be confident that we can clear snow and ice from your loading bay, company car park and service and storage areas. Our teams have access to over 80+ snowploughs. We also use 36 spreaders across our five depots which consist of using 3.5 tonne Vale trailed spreaders, 7.5 tonne Econ lorries, 14 tonne Econ lorries or the two 18-tonne lorries that can grit larger premises.’
Loading bay gritting summary...
Employ a winter gritting contractor now to protect your staff and effectively grit your loading bay and other key service areas this winter.
