Manufacturers of skip loaders are working with chassis makers on safety recommendations following talks with the Health and Safety Executive about two recent incidents involving runaway skip lorries. At the same time, the HSE has called on skip operators to ensure they have safe vehicles operated by properly trained staff.
School
In April 2002, a skip lorry ran away across a main road and into a school fence, injuring a driver. This happened because the operator did not realise that as the stabilisers were lowered, the hand-braked rear wheels would lift off the ground, the HSE said.
In December, a driver was killed when a skip lorry ran away whilst being loaded on an incline. “Again the stabilisers lifted the braking rear wheels off the ground and in this case the force of the lorry and load over-rode a chock on the front wheel,” the HSE said.
The trade body representing manufacturers and suppliers of skip loaders, the Container Handling Equipment Manufacturers (CHEM), will make its recommendations to the HSE by July this year. It is expected to advise that chassis should be fitted with four-wheel brakes, but it will also review design changes which could be made when stock chassis are used.
Lesson
Paul Harvey, HSE principal inspector for waste, said of the two recent incidents: “These are not the only runaways that have happened – there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of many other incidents. The simple lesson to learn is that on most skip loaders handbrakes only act on the rear wheels. Lift these off the ground and the vehicle can run away.”
The HSE said safety risks could be reduced by fitting four-wheel hand-braking on lorries and loading and unloading on level ground. Where this was impossible, the handbrake should be applied, chocks used on front wheels and rear wheels kept on the ground when lowering stabilisers, it said.
Geoff Creamer, technical director of skiploader manufacturer Edbro said: “We certainly put out operator instructions and those try to cover all known risks. If we could persuade truck manufacturers to offer four-wheel braking, then that would resolve the problem at a stroke.
Colin Hinson, managing director of Trio said: “All skip-loaders supplied by Trio Group, where appropriate, are supplied with chocks and a comprehensive manual showing how to operate the equipment in a safe manner according to the various conditions that may be found.
“We will be discussing with the chassis manufacturers the provision of all-wheel braking, which would cure the problem, but in the short term we are looking at ways of bringing it to the drivers' attention in a more obvious way.”
David Buxton, the technical secretary of CHEM, said of the safety issues: “It's a problem that can arise in unusual circumstances if the vehicle is on a considerable incline and the driver is not careful in the way the vehicle is stabilised.
“The design of the completed vehicle has to eliminate any possible runaway. We could be looking at four-wheel parking brakes or modification of skip loading designs.”
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