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POST LESS PROTECTION
Page 60
Page 61
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Damaged sideposts in trailers are a hazard to drivers.
To make curtainsiders safer many firms are choosing
unsupported roofs. Bryan Jarvis investigates. Moveahle side pillars on curtained semi-trailers are a real boon; they allow the driver to adjust or widen the side aperture to facilitate loading, and when everything is in place and curtains are properly tensioned, they help to keep the entire structure secure.
But side posts are prone to damage, either by forklifts when the driver doesn't move them far enough aside, or by other vehicles side-shifting against them.
The result is that they jam into position and their securing mechanisms are difficult to release. Should the trailer be an elderly one with a heavy sagging root the next time the driver undoes the fastening device to open the curtains, the post can leap straight out and inflict serious hand, arm or even head injuries.
He'll certainly receive a shock, but so will his company's management when the Health & Safety Executive and litigation lawyers become involved in the matter.
"The industry gets lots of claims,says Maxi group fleet manager Jim McFarlane, "which is why we're giving the post-less design a serious tryout." During the past year he's added 50odd to the group's /30-strong trailer fleet and, although it's still early days, McFarlane is seeing a lot of other fleets doing similar things.
"OK," he says,"at around seven tonnes they're a wee bit heavier than similar trailers with side support, but at 44 tonnes it doesn't make that much difference."
Maxi's fleet additions included 15 from Montracon and 25 from Boalloy and although both roofs are unsupported, the forrner's cant rail has a deeper incursion (around 254mm) into the trailer body.
They hang about 100hnm below the pelmet so the trailers have lobe slightly higher to give the required 2.74m (9ft) high side access.
Boalloy'sFreespanTautliner design is a slightly shallower 210mm deep, G-section cantilever rail with beefed up front pillars, so at 4.2m they don't have to be quite so high.
Rental fleets take a similar view; that if you want to avoid being embroiled in Health and Safety enquiries, it's best to revert to curtainsiders without midway support.
Bradford-based Hill Hire, for example, will generally offer them on longer term contracts and some are included on spot hire too.
Again, it's mainly due to the incidence of posts damaged during loading and drivers injuring themselves when they're released, but Hill Hire's operations director,Adam Fairbothansays it's not a new phenomenon.
Critical factors
His company runs a fleet of 4,800 trucks with 16,800 trailers and more than 700 of these are curtainsiders with unsupported roofs.
lie knows what side loading apertures are required, so the cant rail depth and the trailer's overall height are critical factors.
Considering that some of Hill Hire's customers want trailers built to 4.65m and 4.80m, he exercises extreme caution about the sort of heights that the pillarless design will extend to.
-Over the years we've had a lot of standard curtainsiders with side posts from the likes of Lawrence David, SDC, Cartwright, Boalloy, Schmitz Cargobull and Montracon," he says.
Aware of the rising problem of drivers hurting themselves on side posts, Hill Hire took on a large number of Lawrence David's post-less curtainsiders and began advising customers such as DHL to use them where possible.
"Supported roof designs have improved over the years," adds Fairbotham,"but if you take away the side pillars, you take away the injury problem."
Another operation holding similar views is supermarket giant Wm Morrison, which has a fleet of more than 2,000 trailers, mostly reefers, but with some curtainsiders.
It too has taken steps to avoid the likelihood of driver injury with subsequent compensation claims by buying trailers with unrestricted load apertures.
Having trialled several Mon tracon curtain siders without roof supports for close on two years, transport services director Gordon Judson recently added 50 more to its fleet.
"In truth," he says,-they're no better than 'posted' ones and are slightly heavier but, in view of the safety considerations, they're ideal for our light load schedules."
Steve Champ agrees entirely and has both designs in his much smaller SCD Express general haulage fleet.
A third of his 45 mainly Lawrence David curtainsiders are pillarless and he's just ordered another 10.They either haul 52 pallets of paper products and return with waste paper. or deliver white goods around the UK. His problems arise when they need loading one side at a time.
While his man attends to one set of curtains, indolent forklift drivers can unknowingly nudge pallets against a post without the driver's knowledge, leaving it like an unsprung mousetrap.
"If my man's lucky he'll just get a whack on the hand, but worse could happen, which is why my fleet includes the post-less design," says champ. "Which one we use depends on the type of load carried, but I insist on clear loading procedures anyway." •