Worker safety and reefer monitoring

A striking 32% of all safety-related incidents in supply chain businesses (and, yes, reefer terminals included) are due to slips, trips, and falls. Simply walking stairs without using the handrail can lead to a tragic injury. Yet, there are tools available that can help reduce this while increasing your bottom line.

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The Reefer Monitor | Issue #12 - October 2024

Reefer terminals are not without their share of human risk. Unlike their dry-box counterparts, refrigerated containers require many human interactions, such as plugging them into and out of electrical connections, making mechanical repairs, and frequent checks to ensure they maintain accurate temperatures for their cargo. When performed manually, these routine reefer inspections, which can occur several times daily, raise safety concerns for personnel responsible for this task.

Some common risks to terminal personnel while performing refrigerated container support may include the following.

? Walking across busy terminal lanes

Today’s container terminals feature large, fast-moving vehicles for transporting heavy containers from point to point within the terminal. Manual reefer inspections put pedestrians near this activity. ?Additionally, limited visibility from these vehicles makes safety a huge concern for the pedestrians in the yard.

? Traversing reefer rack gangways and staircases

Quite often, the leading cause of a fall is as simple as not holding a handrail. Safety protocols may be casually missed when inspections require pedestrian navigation of many stairs throughout the terminal. Keeping these areas safe for personnel is everyone’s responsibility.

? Using ladders or man-lifts to access reefer stacks

Taking data readings from the ground with reefers stacked two or more high is impossible. When lifts are needed to perform the required work, the level of risk only increases. Not to mention the added time it takes to retrieve the data.

? Inclement weather

Adverse conditions such as high winds, torrential rains, or, in higher latitudes, ice and snow can increase the chances of injury.

While not all manual processes and their inherent risks can be eliminated while handling refrigerated containers, minimizing these interactions in the yard can profoundly reduce injury claims, worker compensation costs, and lost sick time. Additionally, it can positively improve the overall morale of your entire team.

Automated reefer monitoring can help.

By using systems like RTE’s GRASP3.0 monitoring platform to access reefer data, reefer terminals can enhance their overall safety records and receive immediate, real-time information on the condition of each reefer under supervision. This is something that manual inspections alone cannot achieve.

Here’s how it works.

Instead of having yard personnel visit each reefer in the yard to manually read the data on every control panel and log reefer information, electronic monitoring devices can do the work remotely. These devices connect all your reefers to a central software platform. Whether the reefers are in stacks or racks, the data flows seamlessly without delay, reporting reefer status and alarms in real time.

RTE monitoring hardware, such as the wired RRCE-D and wireless WRAD II systems, uses the reefer’s serial port connection to collect current and historical temperature information. The key to this efficient process is RTE’s GRASP software, which manages everything, monitoring, timestamping, and storing incoming data 24/7 accurately, efficiently, and without delays, regardless of weather conditions.

With the electronic monitoring devices in place, any temperature deviation from spec or mechanical failure on the reefer triggers an instant alert. This alert is sent to management and accountable personnel, ensuring fast and efficient corrections that can prevent potential cargo damage.

In contrast, when your team takes manual inspections in the yard, they may be unavailable to address immediate issues. Something will eventually be delayed. Will it be the inspections, leaving reefers in an unknown condition for longer intervals, or the reefer repair that is urgently needed but technicians are unavailable to address? ?Through automated reefer monitoring, technicians are better prepared to address reefer issues by exception only. In this way, workers are more readily available to address the terminal’s more pressing needs at any given time while avoiding unnecessary yard pedestrian traffic.

Through this process, improved terminal safety is achieved because human interactions with each reefer are exceedingly reduced for the bulk of reefer handling responsibilities, putting workers in a better position to address critical needs more quickly.

Think about that. Automated reefer monitoring is a win-win-win for improving safety, productivity, and efficiency.

• Improve worker safety – fewer interactions mean less risk for accidents and injuries.
• Improve your bottom line – reduced accidents equals lower claims and lost time due to injuries.
• Improve cargo quality – real-time access to changes in cargo temperatures, allowing faster response and avoiding cargo spoilage.
• Improve operational efficiency and data accuracy—Automated data collection means personnel can be redirected to more pressing terminal needs, improving response to reefer alerts and ensuring precise time-stamped record-keeping.

Are you ready to increase your safety numbers and improve reefer handling productivity? Get started with quality automated reefer monitoring that only RTE can deliver.

For over 40 years, RTE has remained committed to supporting the needs of the refrigerated transportation industry by providing innovative solutions for collecting and storing data related to perishable containerized cargo. We look forward to helping you. Here's how you can reach us: Contact RTE