I have done a search on here with regards to driver thoughts about working at height and the majority of opinion is man up and make sure you don’t fall off looking through the old posts.I thought I would see if anyone has some sort of solution to the problems I sometimes come up against.
I am not talking about the general working on the deck of your vehicle and moving about shifting pallets etc as I feel that is not too bad and unless you were unlucky most falls would result in a bruised but and ego (however my brother in law who works in construction tells me they would never be allowed to work for an extended period like I do while unloading a full load (hiab for either timber or brick etc) at the height of a lorry deck without either fall arrest equipment or some sort of platform.) I dont think there is a practical solution to working at normal lorry deck height other than be careful and avoid trip hazards.
My issue is some recent work I have been doing delivering roof trusses for one company and timber framed building sections for another firm. In order to strap these loads up to Hiab them off it sometimes requires me to stand on top of a load that can be up to 16ft 4 inches high in the case of some roof trusses and a good 15 foot high to rig the lifts of panels. In order to get to the top you need to either shin up the trusses (quite steep angle sometimes) or climb the packs of framing (a very shaky experience if your no Sherpa Tensing like me)
It struck me the other day as I was stood upright about 15 feet in the air that should I slip on the wet vapour wrap on the panels I was on the chances of brushing off a fall from 15 feet where slim to none. Then the long drive back from Sleaford set me to thinking of a possible way to provide safe fall arrest and I could think of none, nore any way of rigging the load from the ground.
Does any body here have any suggestions I could make to help try to make what is without doubt a very unsafe operation a little more driver friendly for me?
try google searching working at height regs,i know its on there cos i read up on it after i fell off the top of my transporter,and was laid up for three months.to be honest,by law your employer shouldnt put you in a dangerous position,that could jepordise your health and safety,but you as an employee,you must also take responsibility for your own health and safety.you can borrow me ladders if ya like!
I think you will find that most places you deliver to now will make the rules for you. For instance a customer here will not let us climb on the trailer to fit the side boards, so we have to use the steps pictured at the rear of the trailer.
In the case of the trusses, can you not carry a set of steps? or maybe a piece of wood and some 4’’ nails with a claw hammer to make a platform to stand on.
I didnt load the trusses and would never strap them like that, How can they be secure when the straps pass over the aluminium side boards? All that will do is bend the boards.
When we load steel from Corus now we are not even allowed on the deck to place skids or packing. Even to strap the load we have to strap it from ground level.
when i was working for a local scaffolding firm, i was on site handballing a load onto the motor and im on the deck of the truck, mayby 4 and half feet off the ground, and i got a mouthful of abuse from the h&s guy there
your not meant to be up there you could fall and hurt yourself
yes but i could also hurt myself on the ground so ill take my chances up here
the only way to load this was handballing it with somebody ont he ground passing the pipes to me in a stillage, there was a hiab but i dont have a licence for it and it wasnt working at the time.
then theres been other times where im stopped at the side of a motorway tightening a strap up and been 12 feet off the ground on top of scaffolding.
The simplest way would be for the collection point to install fall arrest equipment. I feel pretty sure they would be in the deep smelly stuff if someone came off the top. I’m surprised they haven’t got it in this day and age?
Wheel Nut:
I didnt load the trusses and would never strap them like that, How can they be secure when the straps pass over the aluminium side boards? All that will do is bend the boards.
In normal circumstances I would agree but in the picture it seems that the side boards are tight against the load with no possibility of them flexing - or am I mistaken
That sort of thing would work and as far as I can work out it is the only real solution other than carrying a mobile scaffold platform. I don’t think the ladders would work as the floor surface changes so one drop will be tarmac which would be fine but then another would be a muddy building site. In addition to that any method that meant one had to stay on a platform or some sort of ladder would fail as you need to get right on top of the load to rig it properly there is no way of passing the strops right under then looping etc to get a level load.
this sort of answers my question I was doing something not dissimilar to this guy but another 5 feet higher up. I guess the HSE would be a little unhappy with me to say the least.
I am not sure about the regulations but hasn’t a haulage company had trailers specialy built for work of this nature? Cant think of the name now but it was in some magazines not so long ago i think. Might be something to do with the Kingspan.
Grasshopper:
I am not sure about the regulations but hasn’t a haulage company had trailers specialy built for work of this nature? Cant think of the name now but it was in some magazines not so long ago i think. Might be something to do with the Kingspan.
Its on a rigid that I deliver on but they do use some very low trailers with cut outs to hold trusses lower but they still get up near 16feet ont he big ones and have no saftey features fro the driver/loader.
Having dug a little deeper the HSE have gone into this in quite some depth.
The thing is I have to work at height to unload the trusses etc so it is unavoidable. The working at height regulations clearly state that should the risk of injury be high then a suitable method of protection should be available. The result of falling from 15 feet would be potentially fatal so it seems that the employer should provide some means of either fall arrest or access platform. As I deliver to multiple sites the platform thing is out the window but the fall arrest I guess is a must. I will send them a link to the blog above see what happens.
tartanraider:
The simplest way would be for the collection point to install fall arrest equipment. I feel pretty sure they would be in the deep smelly stuff if someone came off the top. I’m surprised they haven’t got it in this day and age?
The collection point isn’t normally the problem. It is the delivery, and for some strange reason they build houses in obscure places like in the middle of fields and up hillsides
ROG:
In normal circumstances I would agree but in the picture it seems that the side boards are tight against the load with no possibility of them flexing - or am I mistaken
I saw this one Rog and there were gaps as the rear posts dont fit flush. It was a bit of generalisation though, take notice how many flatback trucks, tilts, brick trailers and scaffold lorries have a strap passing over the side boards like that.
It is almost as unsafe as the driver taking pictures of the roof trusses as he was overtaken
ROG:
In normal circumstances I would agree but in the picture it seems that the side boards are tight against the load with no possibility of them flexing - or am I mistaken
I saw this one Rog and there were gaps as the rear posts dont fit flush. It was a bit of generalisation though, take notice how many flatback trucks, tilts, brick trailers and scaffold lorries have a strap passing over the side boards like that.
ROG:
In normal circumstances I would agree but in the picture it seems that the side boards are tight against the load with no possibility of them flexing - or am I mistaken
I saw this one Rog and there were gaps as the rear posts dont fit flush. It was a bit of generalisation though, take notice how many flatback trucks, tilts, brick trailers and scaffold lorries have a strap passing over the side boards like that.
It is almost as unsafe as the driver taking pictures of the roof trusses as he was overtaken
when i did the scaffolding i always used to runt he strap under the door when possible, obviously when i had 2 full stacks of runner boards up front i couldnt do that but they were always tight up against the doors.
the one place we run steel tube out of has an aluminium platform that gets wheeled round the 2 sides and the back of the wagon so you dont have to climb up onto the wagon when they are loading.
But when you get to do the drops you have to climb up on to the wagon to put the slings on the hook and 9 times out of 10 theres arnet any steps let alone a nice platrorm
Andydisco:
the one place we run steel tube out of has an aluminium platform that gets wheeled round the 2 sides and the back of the wagon so you dont have to climb up onto the wagon when they are loading.
But when you get to do the drops you have to climb up on to the wagon to put the slings on the hook and 9 times out of 10 theres arnet any steps let alone a nice platrorm
My point exactly. That employer is obviously aware that climbing round your load to strap up the load is dangerous but it just seems that once you are out on site and the H and S man from your employer doesn’t see you it doesn’t count.
Another thought I hd is that I could in some way attach some sort of fall arrest to the hiab itself and use that as an anchor while I am up top and ascending / descending wouldnt be ideal but as most of the vehicles I use now have nice remote controls to move it round I could just follow myself around whilst rigging and detach it when done.
Seems to me that you are missing the obvious answer. Just put the lifting slings on before you load the trusses and leave them hanging down so you can hook them up from the deck.
Santa:
Seems to me that you are missing the obvious answer. Just put the lifting slings on before you load the trusses and leave them hanging down so you can hook them up from the deck.
A simple solution is often overlooked isnt it?
That is what we do when loading steel bars & tubes in France. The slings are left around the bundles, although this doesnt negate the need to climb on the trailer as we have to open the roof anyway, it certainly doesnt mean you are trying to lift a bundle from one end to try to get the slings or chains on.
All that will do is bend the boards.
