Posted By Mike Miller Hi everyone. The building maintenance section of the company I am currently assigned to has approached me regarding the glass racks on the sides of all their vans. The problem is that having looked at them they are of very poor quality, look very unstable and just not up to the job. Fortunately they have not had any recorded accidents as such but have had one or two hairy moments one being when a double glazed unit being loaded, fell down between the back of the rack and the van. Apparently the vehicle manufacturer who provided the vans (who shall be nameless) supplied the vehicles ‘fully equipped ready for work’ as part of the deal. The roof racks were also part of the deal and I have had reports from the trades that they are buckling and distorting when loaded and in transit. I must stress that they are not in my opinion, being overloaded as I had investigated the possibility. You can see at a glance that they are not of an industrial quality. The company is about to renew all its vehicles in the next month or so and on Friday I issued some temporary control measures (RA/MS) but I know that with the right information at hand I could improve on it to a much greater degree. Which brings me to my reason for the posting was to ask if anyone out there who either works in the glazing industry or transports goods on similar racking, knows of any standard, ACOP or regulation I could refer to, to assist me in bringing this to a conclusion. I am sure that this has been tackled in the past by someone and possibly a RA to compare would be very useful. I would be grateful for any help I can get on this one I would then at least be able to set the standard for the organisation when the time comes to speak to the new vehicle rep/company, as they will once again ask them to 'fit the vehicles out for work' Many thanks in anticipation Mike

Posted By Mike Miller Hi John I agree with you completely and I am sorry to hear of your misfortune. I do hope that you were not seriously hurt. Unfortunately the total ban I would like is not an option. This is why as a control measure I have instructed that all materials are carried inside a vehicle as opposed to out. I have also recommended that instead of 30 vans carrying dangerous/unstable goods, limit it down to two larger vehicles who will service the areas until we can solve the problem. This will be a major inconvenience to the organisation because it operates across the north east covering several geographical areas, and this is only one small part of a national company. Whatever we decide here will have a knock on effect to the whole organisation. I have looked into the possibility of the glass suppliers delivering to point of use, but again this is not cost effective and we are only shifting the problem. There is no other way but to come up with a suitable racking or transport system that is suitable for the purpose and safe to the user and the public. There are millions of these side racks in use and many who use them are probably oblivious to the dangers for one reason or the other. My aim is to improve on this company’s safety by inducting the management and the workforce into a safe system of work and putting good control measures in place coupled with sound and suitable racking systems. If I can do that by sharing good practice with the colleagues on the IOSH forum, then all the better. Many thanks for your contribution Mike