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Load height is crucial in timber stability says HSE
Page 12
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• by Guy Sheppard A long-awaited report says load height as well as load restraint needs to be considered if the safety of timber haulage is to improve.
Up until now, attention has focused on the danger of cross-loading unprocessed timber following numerous incidents of timber accidentally falling from moving vehicles. In one case, an elderly couple was killed while driving along a road in Scotland when timber fell onto their car.
The report, The security of crossloaded round timber, published by the Health & Safety Executive, recommends that drivers should be advised of maximum cornering speeds to prevent trucks keeling
cver. This is oecause the load movement of timber is greater than with other materials.
It says extensive tests by TRL showed that the centre of gravity and the cornering ability of a vehicle hauling logs with a load height of 3.43m is comparable to an equally distributed container with a GVW of 44 tonnes and a load height of 3.58m.
"Once the security of the load has been addressed, it is necessary to ensure that the vehicle will not roll over during cornering," it says.
The report supports guidelines published by the Department for Transport which recommend longitudinal loading rather than cross-loading of timber (CM 17-23 Oct 2002).
The Roundwood Haulage Working Party is due to publish its own revised code of practice on Tuesday (March 11).
Chairman Richard Scott says publication was delayed so that the recommendations from the HSE report could be considered first. However, the HSE recommendations about load height have not been incorporated.
Scott says: "The code includes the main recommendation that crossloading and restraining loads using straps is not a reliable method. The incidents of cross-loading are dramatically less than five to 10 years ago, so the impact on the industry is going to be fairly small."
• The report can be found on the Health and Safety Executive's website wynv.hse.gov.uk), under the heading 'What's New'; click on New Publications', then look for the report under 'February 2003.