There were no lost time injuries (LTIs) or recordable injuries (TRIs) in the week, however it was extremely concerning and disappointing to suffer our second vehicle rollover in a week. In the incident, a 71 year old contract haulage tipper driver suffered a strained shoulder and cut to his temple when his vehicle overturned whilst tipping sand at one of our sites.
An investigation is underway, however it has already established that the driver was not inducted on the site and that he ignored the inclinometer warning of the adverse angle of his vehicle when he was tipping. Back in 2011 a contract driver working on our behalf lost his life when a colleague’s vehicle overturned and landed on his cab. It is essential we implement the full range of control measures if we are to prevent vehicle rollovers and further tragedy, including ensuring:
- All drivers are trained in the Safe Systems of Work relating to tipping operations
- Vehicles are evenly loaded along the full length and not loaded to one side
- All drivers receive a site induction on their first visit to a site and periodic refreshers thereafter
- Tip off areas are firm and level, with adequate lighting and well maintained
- 15 metre exclusion zones are maintained around tipping vehicles, reinforced with local signage
- Vehicle sheets are removed and tailgates released prior to tipping
- Drivers remain in their cabs with their seat belts on while tipping
Jesus Gonzalez commented on the incident, “It is very difficult to put into words how I feel after experiencing a second rollover in less than a week. I have asked the senior team to put together an emergency plan to send a very strong message across the whole organisation that we must stop hurting our drivers and always follow the established tipping procedures. This is relevant not only to our Logistics operations but also to receiving sites. I count on your full support to implement this plan.”
Chris Leese, VP for Readymix also commented, “Whatever the outcome of the investigation please lets use this incident as a reminder that our sites are inherently hazardous and that at any given time on any given day we are only a heartbeat away from a potential incident. And so we all have to take responsibility and properly and diligently discharge our duty, whatever pressure we may be under, to keep everyone safe so that they can go home to their families at the end of every working day. You can help right now – by talking to someone about this message and passing it on through the organisation.”