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8th January 1998, Page 30
8th January 1998
Page 30
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Mind the gap!

Every truck operator should prevent accidents at work. Besides the disruption they cause, accidents can lead to expensive compensation claims. CM looks at how to avoid driver damage. 0 pen any local newspaper and you're likely to find at least one advert from a solicitor encouraging readers to ring in if they've been injured at work. Messrs Sue, Grabbit, and Runne will be only too happy to take up the cudgels on the aggrieved employee's behalf, and the result could be a civil court case and a hefty cash award against the employer.

The Health & Safety Executive could also take action against the firm concerned.

Safety

The safety of drivers is of particular concern. Gtx)d drivers are worth several times their weight in gold, and nobody wants one harmed due to an accident which could have been avoided.

Artic drivers run a particular risk of injury whenever they enter the gap between a tractor and a trailer—so Montracon has developed a coupling system which avoids the need for them to do so. It's fitted to Safeway's Trailer 2000 (below). Developed by the supermarket giant in conjunction with Montracon's design learn, Trailer 2000 was a finalist in Commercial Motor's Trailer of the Year Awards '97. The two-axle reefer is equipped with MAVIS—short for Montracon Articulated Vehicle Interconnection System.

"Our electrical and air brake coupling system is being fitted by lots of other reefer customers too, and it seems as though safety is becoming more and more of a priority among food chain operators," says Montracon Refrigerated Vehicles managing director, Pat Berridge. "We've transferred the steel carriage which swings on a rail shaped like a segment of a circle. The driver can pull the carriage to one side, and couple up while standing on the ground."

Mini-suzies link the trailer to a coupling box mounted on the carriage and another set of suzies in turn links the box to the tractor. "The couplings won't snag, kink, and break, and constantly having to replace suzie lines costs hauliers money," says Berridge. "With this system you don't get grease all over the front of the trailer either."

The benefits of MAVIS are certainly appreciated by Safeway's logistics director Lawrence Christensen. "The Suzie Rail is proving popular with drivers," he says. "We're already finding that it is reducing snagging of the air lines when trucks are manoeuvring in tight turning areas, and we believe it will save lives."

The device costs several hundred pounds, and although it can be retrofitted it's not suitable for all trailers. "We'd have to look at the couplings and the suitability of the coupling box in each case," says Berridge.

Training

Don-Bur is among other trailer makers developing a similar approach to coupling; Cartwright Group for example, is also being asked to do so by Weetabix.

Rockinger Drawbar has long advised drawbar operators to mount the electrical and air-brake lines on the nearside of the prime mover for ease of connection and disconnection: sales and marketing director Tom Dee holds regular training sessions for drivers on how to couple and uncouple drawbars safely.

"Eighty percent of drawbar drivers say that they have never been shown how to couple and uncouple," he reports. "We've even had an instance of a driver who just tied his air and electrical lines in a knot because nobody had told him how to connect them up."

Training need to be conducted regularly, Dee adds, because drivers who have attended courses may leave, and the knowledge they have gleaned might not be passed on to the new recruits.

Rockinger Drawbar makes remote drawbar coupling openers. "We either use a Bowden cable, or we mount a handle on the side of the truck adjacent to the coupling," says Dee. "The opening mechanism is automatically disconnected when the vehicle is in motion."

Drivers working on and around vehicles aren't only in danger when they're standing between the trailer and the unit. They face other hazards too, and low-loader drivers are at particular risk when loading and

unloading. This is well appreciated by Andover Trailers, which is why its Superlow Safety Trailer won CM'S 1997 Trailer of The Year Safety Award.

Aside from the fact that the ample use of reflective materials and additional lighting mean that it's probably visible from Mars, its equipped with check valves to prevent injury from falling ramps if a hydraulic pipe bursts. It also comes with a wanderlead control so the driver can operate the ramps while standing safely to one side.

"Some step-frame trailers are prone to running away when being loaded from the rear," says Andover's joint general manager, Ivan Collins. That's not a happy thought for a driver to contemplate if he's in the middle of driving a machine on board.

Leverage

"Superlow Safety is less likely to do this because the bogie is fitted further back than most others on the market, and so you get less leverage from the beavertail to lift the neck of the trailer," says Collins.

"We've also fitted an interlock which prevents you from lowering the ramps without the suspension being lowered, and lowering the suspension automatically applies the brakes," he explains. When the driver lowers the ramps the hydraulic steady legs automatically come down so the trailer is ready for loading. This new interlock system means it is impossible for the driver to load or unload without having the brakes on and the steady legs down."

Something else a low-loader driver wouldn't wish to contemplate is the prospect of toppling off the trailer's side while at the controls of a piece of machinery inching its way up a deck-to-neck ramp. "That's why we positively locate each ramp through a hole in the upstand on the neck, so it cannot move," says King Trailers managing director, Mark Carrington. While going in and out of a refrigerated trailer is less obviously dangerous than working with a low loader, it does have its perils, says Berridge. Straining to break the seal around a recalcitrant moveable bulkhead can lead to a wrenched back or shoulder, so Montracon fits them with wings to make the seals easier to break.

It's rare for drivers to have to clamber up into a box trailer these days—access is usually via a loading dock—but Montracon will nevertheless fit steps and hanging straps so that employees don't end up performing hazardous acrobatics on the rear underrun bar.

An anti-slip coating over the first metre of flooring inside the trailer is another option which is popular among safety-conscious operators, says Cartwright. Nobody wants to see a driver carefully climb up into a trailer only to tumble back out again as he tries to walk on a slippery deck.

Another potential cause of wrenched backs is a curtain which resolutely refuses to budge. Don-Bur is continually looking at ways of making curtains easier to open, says group marketing manager Richard Blurton. Don-Bur is also looking at ways to ensure that the buckles are secure. If you're hit in the face by one flapping around in the breeze you'll know all about it, says Blurton • rid could lose an eye.

And don't ignore proper load restraint measures. Opening the curtains only to have half the load fall on your head could spoil a driver's entire day. Something as simple, and as painful, as a crushed finger could keep a driver off work for several days. It could even lead to a compensation claim.

Roller-shutter door manufacturer Henderson is conscious of this hazard. Its latest P3 shutter is fitted with moulded intermediate seal section carriers which are designed to prevent a driver's fingers from being trapped between the slats.

While tail-lifts are usually fitted to speed up loading and unloading, they too have a health and safety role to play. Lifting heavy or awkwardly shaped items is a common cause of back injuries, especially if you are asking somebody to heave something from the ground to the height of a semitrailer's load floor. That's why the Manual Handling Regulations state that in general nobody should be asked to lift anything heavier than 25kg without assistance.

But are operators willing to pay the extra for safety equipment? Not always, says Andover's Ivan Collins.

Andover is tackling this problem by offering a safety version of every trailer in its range, and marketing it complete with a finance package.

Although the extra equipment could increase the price of a .C25,000 trailer by up to £4,000, the additional weekly cost on a finance package will only be £20.

CI by Steve Banner

Get your drivers involved!

• Mon[racon's Pat Berridge says his customers are prepared to pay for safety measures. But he adds: "The only question is whether or not the driver is prepared to use them."

Even if he isn't, there's no point in throwing up your hands, walking away from the problem, and letting him risk injury. You must make it clear that if he fails to do so he risks disciplinary action, possibly leading to dismissal if his safety breaches are persistent and flagrant.

After all, such a driver may be putting other employees at risk as well as himself, and even if he hurts himself by failing to use established safety procedures, you could still find yourself in court. The argument will be that you failed to make it sufficiently clear to him that by not using the kit provided he was putting himself in danger as well as breaching the firm's health and safety rules; and you could wind up leaving the court room rather poorer than when you went in.

The bottom line is that wise hauliers will install effective safety measures, and make sure that they're used.


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