Spotlight on dangerous loads
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14 accidents are analysed in 'explosives' report
by John Darker • Intense public concern exists in many countries over the carriage of dangerous products. It applies in all modes of transport but road operations appear to be bearing the brunt of critical scrutiny.
Specialist British road hauliers can rightly take pride in their safety record last year. In relation to the vast tonnages of hazardous chemicals moved, 1972's accident record wherein one major incident yielded most of the year's casualties, is extraordinary. Only four incidents arose from the conveyance of petrol by road.
The most serious accidents reported to HM Inspectors of Explosives in 1972 involved the transport of corrosive substances in bulk road tankers. There were 14 such accidents in 1972 involving two deaths and 21 injuries. The most serious involved the spillage of oleum — a form of sulphuric acid — on M6 when one person died and 20 were injured.
Comprehensive controls over the conveyance of dangerous substances by road are pending. HM Inspectors say: "Steps are already in hand to ensure that (a) bulk loads of corrosive substances are properly carried in suitable vehicles, (b) such loads are properly marked, and (c) measures are taken to alert both other road users and the emergency services to the hazards involved."
The (Home Office) Inspectors stressed in their recent report to Parliament that vehicles engaged in the bulk haulage of corrosive substances should be built to withstand any reasonably foreseeable accident "but it is impossible to ensure that they will remain intact after every type of collision". They add: "We hope that the legislative action proposed will ensure that, if a similar spillage should occur, the general public is alerted by the markings and the warning devices on the tanker concerned and will consequently keep well clear, while at the same time measures to contain the hazard will be more effective,"
The 14 accidents covered by the report are listed in an appendix, When Benzoyl Chloride leaked from two drums in a covered articulated lorry criminal proceedings were taken against the owners, who were fined. Fifteen people were taken to hospital for examination when a lovt bag of phenol fell from a lorry on the road.
When a 10gal vessel was found to be leaking on an artic further investigation found the caps of 30 other vessels to be loose. Carboys can break in transit over a humped back bridge; acid can leak from a passing vehicle on to pedestrians; and so on.
The Inspectors note that in 1972 there were no casualties in petroleum spirit depots or during the off-loading of petroleum spirit, "for which all concerned deserve every encouragement". They were pleased to note that only four incidents arose from the conveyance of petrol by road; a small number in view of the vast amount of petrol moved by road.
The Safest roads In the United States the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington has recently recommended that trucks carrying hazardous materials should be required to travel the safest feasible roads.
The recommendation was one of several contained in a report following the overturn of an articulated tanker outfit partly loaded with propane gas on a mountain road near Lynchburg, Va, in March 1972. The truck driver and a bystander died and five other persons were seriously burned when propane gas leaking from the ruptured tanker burst into flames.
The truck driver, northbound on a two-lane road, had crossed into the southbound lane to cut across a downhill curve, swerved to avoid an approaching car and then struck a rock on the side of the road and finally overturned, with the tank striking the rock.
The safety board said an inadequate roadmarking system and a misleading trafficcontrol sign contributed to the accident. It said the driver failed to follow oral instructions which would have taken him over a safer route north of Lynchburg, with fewer sharp curves and steep grades. It noted that federal rules currently require only that trucks carrying hazardous materials avoid populated areas, tunnels, and narrow streets or alleys, but do not deal with road characteristics like curves and grades.
The safety board urged that the Bureau of Motor Carriers Safety, a Transportation Department unit, require that trucks carrying hazardous materials take "the safest route with strict compliance by the driver". It also recommended government and industry to provide for safer tanker design.
The need for unified regulations for the transport of dangerous goods is now well recognized in Europe though it is a sad fact that there is a multiplicity of organizations and committees concerned. Traffic volumes of dangerous goods are growing fast; the president of Pakhoed Transportgroep BIT, Mr de Vriese, told our contemporary European Chemical News recently that international transport is growing faster than national transport, and the international transport of specialized commodities is developing faster than general international transport.
This prominent Dutch road operator reckoned that at present more than half of the chemical road transport is handled by numerous small operators, but in the future he expected a small number of large operators to handle all the traffic because of the high costs of operation. A similar view was expressed by Mr Brian McGillivray, managing director of Tankfreight Ltd, the National Freight Corporation subsidiary controlling Pickfords Tank Haulage and Harold Wood and Sons Ltd.
Mr McGillivray believes that road tankers, particularly those carrying hazardous products, may come under even more control in the coming years, with special restrictions on routeing and possibly a complete ban on the carrying of edible products in tankers which have previously been used for the carriage of chemicals.
There will be more stringent specifications for the construction of tanks for the carriage of hazardous materials, making them more expensive to buy and maintain.
Although the cost per ton kilometre of road tanker transport will increase at a rate faster than the general level of cost inflation, in Mr McGillivray's view, alternative modes like rail will be unable to overcome their inherent inflexibility, and road transport of chemicals will continue to be predominant.