Prescott hits out at flat truck safety
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• The latest truck chemical incident, which put 15 people in hospital when hydrobromic acid was spilled on the M1 last week, has prompted fresh protests over the transport of dangerous cargos on Britain's roads.
Shadow transport secretary John Prescott has hit out at the transport of toxic chemicals on flatbed trucks and is calling for the vehicles' design to be reassessed "with safety put before all other factors". A Labour spokesman warned "there could be other incidents where the driver could become the butt of responsibility" despite fulfilling the legal safety requirements.
But Bob Pearson, hazardous goods consultant to transport law firm Ward and Associates, says that however much is done to make loads safe, "far more people are killed by being run over by tankers than by spillages, and it's a question of where you put the effort and money spent on preventing accidents".
However, operators should take the maximum care when transporting dangerous chemicals, Pearson stresses, for instance properly securing cargos, regardless of the size of the load.
Most operators dealing with toxic chemicals do so very safely, says the Health and Safety Executive, which has only had to issue prohibition or impovement notices to 2% of trucks stopped in the recent Operation Chemcheck crackdowns in the North-East.
However, a spate of accidents like last week's could lead to "more specific advice or a change in regulations", says the HSE.