Shipping products such as grain or lumber via rail car is very common. Rail car transportation is popular because it’s a reliable method of moving products safely and efficiently across great distances. However, to ensure the process goes smoothly, companies must know how to prevent product spillage on rail cars. As you’ll learn below, grain spills can be more harmful than people realize.
How To Avoid Spillage
Unfortunately, minor product spillage is likely to occur during the rail car transportation process. That said, with the right procedures, you can ensure the spillage is minimal. At the end of the day, it comes down to good training and ensuring employees consistently use that training in the field.
For example, employees interacting with the rail car containing your products must securely close any openings to prevent spillage—it’s a simple move that greatly benefits the workplace. If you ever see employees using careless handling techniques anywhere in the workplace, putting them back on the right track is essential. If necessary, offer refresher training courses to ensure everyone is up to speed on the right rail car loading and unloading procedures.
Why Preventing Spillage Is Essential
The most obvious benefit is that you can prevent consumer products from slipping right out of your hands by ensuring rail car openings remain closed when necessary. Additionally, minimizing product spillage minimizes slipping and falling hazards. Flour and other grain might seem innocent, but they can cause workers to slip and hurt themselves. Plus, if employees don’t clean product spills, it will promote contamination. Whenever a product spills from the rail car, no matter how minimal it is, employees must properly clean the area to keep everyone out of harm’s way.
As you can see, learning how to prevent product spillage on rail cars is far from difficult. It comes down to teaching employees how to prevent spillage and addressing any poor handling techniques you see in the field. Partnering proper handling procedures with expertly installed railcar loading systems will help you consistently keep operations productive and reliable.