Sit tight if your vehicle topples
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• Tipper drivers are being reminded to sit tight in their cabs if their vehicle starts to topple over, following the death last year of a driver who tried to leap clear. At last week's inquest into the death of Welshman David Prosser, Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan coroner Dr Lawrence Acldiscote said: "It is quite possible that the lorry started going over and Mr Prosser tried to escape."
Health & Safety Executive (H5E) specialist inspector Tom Treble estimates that 1,000 vehicles overturn in similar circumstances each year, but says very few involve driver deaths.
But he points to guidelines in the H5E's Workplace Transport Safety document (see below) which states: "If the vehicle begins to topple over, the driver should brace him/herself against the back of the driver's seat and hold firmly on to the steering wheel. The driver should never try to jump out of a lorry that is falling over."
Treble also recommends a pamphlet, Tipper Stabi* from the Institute of Road Transport Engineers.
Drivers should: • Report to the site operator for instructions before tipping. • Only tip on level and stable ground, free from overhead hazards. Articulated vehicles should always be tipped with the tractor unit and trailer in line.
• At sites which are not level and stable, tipping faces must be compacted and have no significant side slopes. • Before tipping, the driver needs to check that the load is evenly distributed across the vehitle.
• The vehicle should never be driven in order to free a stuck load.