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BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND CASE STUDY TWO: DHL
Page 35
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DI-ILs adoption of Don-Bur's Safe Susie Coupling (SSC) last July came about after one of the regular health and safety forums it holds with its equipment suppliers. The logistics provider has been running a long-term workplace accident reduction programme and it decided that a ground-mounted coupling system was a good way to help eliminate falls from height.
DHL Supply Chain's head of engineering Keith Tress explains: "We tried a sliding susie rail, but rejected it because it didn't go low enough. It had to be suitable for every driver in the fleet from the tallest at 6ft 4in and the smallest at around 5ft we needed the coupling box to come down lower and the Don-Bur system did. Our other concern was that a sliding rail didn't retract on its own."
The DHL/Don-Bur ground level coupling uses an electrop eumatically powered swing-out arm to place the coupling box at chest height. Pressing a button on the front bulkhead brings the arm over to the kerbside, where it is pulled down by the driver. It then locks int position, allowing the driver to disconnect the lines clipping them int the tractor's susie carrier, re-sited on the nearside of the cab, a ain at chest level. The coupling arm is then pushed back out of the w y ready for the next driver to pull it down again.
similar to the Cartwright unit, the air outlets on the Don-Bur cci-inector box face downwards allowing a driver to apply a decent
force when attaching an air line. When the lines are reconnected, the electro-pneumatic arm returns to a central 'running' position in the middle of the front bulkhead.
It's not possible to drive off with the swing arm still down because the park brakes stay on.
However, should that inter-lock fail, as the trailer moves forward, thc arm automatically returns to the central position. Having launched th( prototype with Don-Bur in 2009, DHL has since had it fitted to 62 trailers, including 33 older trailers used on its British Gypsum contrac as part of a renovation project. Tress says feedback from DHL driven using the Safe Susie Coupling "has been very good. The vehicles art out and about in the business more and more. It's been fitted to the entire refurbished British Gypsum trailer fleet and we're looking at further opportunities for fitment [on existing trailers]."
SSC is now standard on most new DHL
%4! trailers. "The only thing we can't include are tankers and reefers because the swing arm hit the bottom of the fridge. We've been looking at possible solutions, including an extending sliding susie rail similar to the ones used on thE 1,4 reefers DHL runs on its Sainsbury's contract."
Tress says the typical on-cost of a Don-Bur SSC of around E1,000 per trailer "is a worthwhile investment without a doubt". While it's probably too early to draw major safety statistical conclusions from the use of the SSC, he confirms DHL's overall accident frequency rate has fallen as a result of its health and safer forums. In 2009, DHL's lost-time accident rate fell by 36% and Tress feels the SSC has been E strong contributory factor in that drop.
He adds: "We've been talking to other customers, they've seen the specs, and one of them has ordered safi susie systems on their new double-deckers."
Since its launch in July 2009, DHL has involved drivers in further development of the Don-Bur system, and changes have been made.
• To see videos of the SSC. visit www.biglonyblog.com and enter the words Don-Bur safe coupling'.