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P LETTER OF THE WEEK

9th September 2010
Page 20
Page 20, 9th September 2010 — P LETTER OF THE WEEK
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Doesn't VOSA know that ratchets aren't always safe?

HAVE JUST read the article (CM 19 August) about Scottish hauliers being stopped and receiving on-the-spot fines and three penalty points for using ropes and not ratchet straps to secure their loads.

The hauliers believe ratchets can damage and split the bags, which I've discovered from my own experience. I have found customers not happy to see bulk bags secured with ratchets that can damage the bags during transport.

Fertiliser contains chemicals such as ammonium nitrate, a class 5.1 chemical. Surely using ropes to secure the load is safer than risking split,darnaged bags, resulting in chemical spillages? Using a ratchet to secure a solid item such as an IBC or drums is not a problem, but bulk bags are not easily secured by ratchets.

I would like to know if any VOSA or Health and Safety Executive (USE) officers have travelled in a vehicle where the fertiliser bags have been secured by ratchet straps.

I know from experience that when the bulk bags are loaded on to the vehicle and secured by ratchet straps you only have to travel just a few miles down the road before the contents in the bag settle and the ratchet straps become slack, resulting in a greater risk of an insecure or unsafe load, than if ropes are used.

The Road Haulage Association is said to be working with the HSE and others to establish new standards, and I hope this happens soon, before more hauliers face points and fines.

I would like to know how many accidents or incidents have accrued from insecure loads of fertilisers in bulk bags when the loads have been roped on the vehicles, a practice that has been carried out for many years.

Judith Hodgson Bradford


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