SHOP TALK
Page 79
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• The closing of vehicle loading doors on roll-on/roll-off ferries before sailing is going to make trucks with diesels needing an urgent service very unpopular aboard ship. The closure of loading doors before sailing has been ordered by the Government in the wake of the Herald of Free Enletprise disaster at Zeebrugge.
The ferries, according to lorry driver witnesses in particular, did not always close their bow doors before sailing_ This allowed time for diesel and petrol fumes. to clear. Can extraction equipment/systems designers help?
• One of the arguments against the Channel tunnel has been the need for Britain to be able to call on ferries in time of war, but before the Norland ferry could sail for the Falklands the Royal Navy insisted on bulkheads being constructed. A Belgian naval expert in the aftermath of Zeebrugge termed these roll-on ships floating coffins. (Their good safety record, and remembering the Harwich capsizing, too, must be caused by good control of sea traffic).
While the Zeebrugge tragedy is investigated, let's keep the whole safety scene in focus and remember that efforts to improve servicing of all types of road transport need boosting.
• Remember European Road Safety Year — that was 1986? More than 55,000 people die from road accidents in Europe every year; as the Department of Transport points out, the number killed and seriously injured every, week in the UK amounts to more than the occupants of five jumbo jets.