FINALIST - TOPIC 6
During a Northstone transport safety meeting, the company tipper drivers discussed how difficult it is to close the tail door of an asphalt tipper truck when the body is still partially loaded with hot bituminous material.
The tail door on this style of tipper lorry is inset to the body rather than sitting external to it, so to close the tail door the contact surfaces need to be cleared. The driver has to either manually hold open or else insert a prop into the heavy tail door in order clear the door sill of hot material.
Whilst external tail doors eliminate the hazards associated with cleaning and closing the tail door, Northstone still have a number of older lorries with inset style tail doors.
The issues associated with working around and clearing the tail door include - manual handling of the heavy tail door, contact with hot material (burns), nip/ trap injuries when removing props or closing the tail door and finally, additional time spent by the driver in a live site environment (close to road traffic, site traffic).
In 2023, a contract HGV driver received a hand injury which required stitches when the prop that he was using to hold the tail door open slipped and the tail door closed suddenly catching and injuring his hand.
Please view the video to see the simple solution that was used to mitigate this hazard.
The images below show the device and the device being used.
