nick2008:
Yeah right who carries a toffee Hanmer nowerdays
Thorntons?
Though any sweet shop should have them
biggriffin:
If a wheel is fitted correctly and torqued up correctly too, it shouldn’t come loose what so ever.
Nonsense!!
There are a lot factors that can cause a wheelnuts to come loose, hence the reason they need constant visual inspection.
When there is a big change in temperature they tend to come loose (aluminium wheels more than steel)
Vehicles who put a lot of strain on their wheels (heavy loads, jack knifing) tend to come loose as well.
We see a lot during inspections, where the driver clearly haven’t checked.
My employer gets us to do our vehicle checks using an app on the company phone…enter reg number. Mileage and tick the boxes. Sign and confirm.
The traffic manager goes crazy if you don’t do this before leaving the yard.
They are under the illusion that if there’s an accident that is caused by a mechanical fault they will not be found to be negligent.
What they don’t consider is that the driver can’t be found negligent either because he has taken all reasonable steps. Etc.
What my employer doesn’t understand is that if it ever came to a court case they would not be able to show one document that confirms that they have checked and verified that I am competent and trained to carry out vehicle checks.
With regards to disciplinary action …let them do what they want…and then take action…don’t try and tell them first of the correct way to investigate and take disciplinary action. There is plenty of stuff on the web explaining the employment law and the way it covers employees from over zealous employers.
paddy1984:
2.where dose my friend stand if his to fight this
Stuffed. If there are no markers you’re supposed to go round them all with a torque wrench. All of them, every day. That is why the markers were introduced. But as others have said, a quick tap with a toffee hammer (small half pound ball pein hammer) used to be just as good. Ping= good, thud = bad.
What about suggesting to ‘your friend’ that he says to his employer that he wants to check where he stands and wants the opinion of the DVSA and the H and S executive and in order to help him could they be so kind as to provide him with all maintenance and service records for the truck, employee training records and availability of the correct tools for checking wheels nuts…
I suspect that because you were not injured or killed your employer had a lucky escape here…they have a duty of care as an employer that trumps the duty of care of a truck driver…remember the horrific fatal accident in Bath and the verdict of the Court ?
makes you wonder why they ever got rid of left and right handed wheel nuts, cant ever recall a nearside rear wheel coming off a vehicle with a left handed nut, and its always the n/s rear. once I’d been handed a Volvo with all right hand threads I’d check them every 4 weeks so with a torque bar.
Heisenberrg:
My employer gets us to do our vehicle checks using an app on the company phone…enter reg number. Mileage and tick the boxes. Sign and confirm.
The traffic manager goes crazy if you don’t do this before leaving the yard.
They are under the illusion that if there’s an accident that is caused by a mechanical fault they will not be found to be negligent.
I think that is quite accurate. Most bosses stare blankly when you invite them to actually consider the logic of their illusions.
Which is all the more surprising when you consider how much money and effort is wasted in the process of creating these illusions.
What they don’t consider is that the driver can’t be found negligent either because he has taken all reasonable steps. Etc.
What my employer doesn’t understand is that if it ever came to a court case they would not be able to show one document that confirms that they have checked and verified that I am competent and trained to carry out vehicle checks.
Agreed. Employers need to understand that the key is not even documentation, since that often does not relate to reality anyway. The key is the actuality of whether the employer is being serious about the inspections.
I’ve been in yards where a full-time trainer will spend seemingly a whole day explaining a 200 point daily check (in an off the cuff manner), but then nothing else, not even verifying casually whether anyone was able to go away from the demonstration and actually implement it. In another yard, the trainer demonstrated a series of checks on an imaginary trailer, because the yard was empty at the time.
These employers therefore got very little value for money for the time they spent on these charades.