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Posted By teaboy
has anyone had any experience of controlling the risk of a fall from the back of a vehicle?
we have about 15 flat bed trucks of varying size and carry out local multi drop deliveries (builders merchants) we plan deliveries to put items towards the edges of the trailer, palletise as much as possible and keep really small stuff in the cab if we can but at some point every day, every driver has to climb on the back of his lorry to attach lifting straps, sort loads etc. we are looking at clip on ladders to provide access and egress but i cant find a practical method of fall prevention whilst he's up there. (bear in mind the delivery may only take a couple of minutes each time but there may be 15-20 per truck per day) we need cost and time effective solutions. any ideas gratefully received
Phil
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Posted By Dave Merchant
Yes, and it's a nightmare. I've advised people about this several times and the sticking point is always the problem of required access - the options suggested on the HSE website are impractical for vehicles where goods are transferred from a flatbed, as the idea of installing edge barriers makes the job impossible in the first place. There are PPE-based solutions but they also create restrictions for movement and obstructions on the flatbed, and on a smaller vehicle often do nothing to prevent injury.
Some people are playing with inflatable mats, but again that's impractical if you want to transfer a load off the side of a truck, only for when you're working on the vehicle for maintenance. Most of the time the 'solution' is to do almost nothing (save implementing the usual things like cleaning of surfaces, anti-slip materials on steps and ladders, worker education etc.) - working on the roof of a tanker is one thing, but for a flatbed delivery truck there's very little to be gained in an ALARP-based sense from going into the problem more than that. The fall from the cab is probably higher than the fall from the flatbed.
As an indication of how daft people can be on this issue, one fire brigade insists people standing on the flatbed of a turntable ladder (1m off the floor) clip on using a 1.5m lanyard - "because it's safer".
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Posted By naomi
Hi
Sorry I can't help specifically but there was a big article in SHP regarding falls from vehicles, if you could grab a copy it had lots of fall prevention information.
Naomi
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Posted By teaboy
thanks guys
i've read the article naomi, but it doesn't help me much unfortunately, i forgot to mention that a large proportion of our business is delivering to private addresses where space is usually very limited.
you are right, it's a blooming nightmare
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Posted By Dave Merchant
The question is simple even if the answer isn't - are the existing measures ALARP? I know falls from vehicles is an HSE hot potato this winter, but if you've not had an accident and you're doing all that can reasonably be expected given the vehicle and the nature of the work, you just have to show that on an RA and be done with it. Use edge protection as fitted to the vehicle as much as possible (i.e. don't fold it all down just for the hell of it), and tell people to act sensibly.
Even the HSE wouldn't say that we can't deliver building supplies by truck anymore!
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Posted By Kevin Kelly
teaboy if you want to mail me directly I just received a brochure for a system to anchor a harness onto for flatbed trucks that looks as if it is quiet workable.
Regards,
Kevin
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Posted By Debbie S
I had to assess this as we have over 100 curtain sided lorries making deliveries on pallets everyday.
The problem is that yes the driver does neeed to get onto the back of his lorry to shift stuff around as deliveries are made as they have to monitor the spread of the load across the axles / resecure loads etc
One simple solution is to write into your SWP that keeping the curtains drawn and hooked into place with only a small area open at one end for access and egress therefore makes it less likely to be able to fall.
Touch wood in 8 years no-one has fallen and I have 2 HSE authorities approve.
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Posted By teaboy
thanks for your input guys, i wasn't ignoring you all, was out of the office yesterday.
i was thinking along your lines dave, we have never had an accident so i think i might do a couple of trips with the drivers just to see how they actually do it. unfortunately the sides of the trucks are only about 600mm high
debbie, another simple solution thanks, but we dont have curtain sides, the largest vehicles are only 7.5t and have low, fold down sides.
roll on friday
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