Sheeting loads: Do you know the ropes?
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Sheeting and roping loads on lorries is less popular these days thanks to the increased use of curtainsiders and mechanical covering systems. But if sheetino has to be done, there are several safety. environmental and C&U requirements to follow.
Safety in sheeting The art of lorry sheeting has almost passed into folklore with the widespread use of closed vehicles; especially curtainsiders. Where tarpaulins are still used, such as with tippers, mechanical sheeting systems are rapidly taking oven There are a number of reasons for this: • To protect goods from the elements and from theft; • To avoid the risk of goods falling from open vehicles; • The need to speed up vehicle turnround times; • Rising labour costs; • To avoid drivers having to climb on vehicles. Thre are also a whole bundle of laws requiring the sheeting of loose loads. These rules fall into three main areas.
C&U Requirements The Construction and Use Regulations—section 100[4—make it illegal for any load to be carried on a vehicle or trailer in a manner that is likely to cause danger or nuisance to anybody by reason of it, or any part of it, falling or being blown from the vehicle, or from any other slippage of the load.
It is an offence for bulk and loose loads to cause a nuisance as well as a danger to other road users and such loads must be secured, if necessary by physical restraint, to stop them falling or being blown from a vehicle.
This provision has been on the statute book for a long time and is all encompassing, leaving little excuse for any vehicle to be on the road with an insecure, loose or unsheeted load.
These regulations include two noteworthy terms relating to load safety: one is "nuisance", implying that to commit an offence, the operator does not have to go so far as causing actual danger, merely causing nuisance is sufficient to land him in trouble. For example, sand, grit or dust blowing into the face of a following police motorcycle patrol officer could be said to be causing him nuisance.
The other term is "physical restraint" which confirms the need for sheeting, netting and roping as appropriate on any loose load such as sand, coal or grain, hay and straw and even builder's skips carrying brick rubble or rubbish, any of which may be blown from the vehicle and cause danger or nuisance to other road users. Environmental rules The Environmental Protection Act 1990 broadly prohibits tipper vehicles working out of quarries and similar premises from leaving with unsheeted loose loads.
Safety considerations Under the broad heading of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, a wide range of safety provisions apply to lorry sheeting.
• First is the need for vehicle operators to assess the risks to the health and safety of employees and anybody else who may be affected by their work activities—including the operation of vehicles with loose loads and the need for sheeting such loads.
• Second are the responsibilities imposed on employers to take the necessary steps to prevent injuries to their employees, such as those which may result from drivers falling from the top of a vehicle or load.
• Third, under the related Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, employers have a duty to avoid hazardous handling operations—which would clearly include the manhandling of a heavy tarpaulin on top of a load or a high tipper body. Auto To sum up: systems are • If it is loose, it safer for the must be sheeted; operators.
• If it must be sheeted, the system used must be safe.
Should anybody contravene the regulations, the maximum penalties imposed include: • A fine of /1,000 for contravention of the C&U regulations; • A fine of £5,000 and/or six months' imprisonment, on conviction, for causing danger to road users; • A fine of £5,000 and/or seven years' imprisonment, on indictment, for causing danger to road users.
• Should anybody be seriously injured or killed as a result of a sheeting accident or from an insecure load, the additional penalties imposed under the Health and Safety at Work Act could be unlimited, to say nothing of the compensation claims which may have to be met