The Automotive Blog

Since tougher penalties have been introduced when the Heath and Safety Offences Act 2008 was introduced with minimum fines being raised from £5,000 to £20,000 and sentences starting at 6 months imprisonment, companies should seriously consider testing their brakes and monitoring the tyres of their vehicles on a regular basis. By demonstrating that a business has undertaken regular checks should alleviate any blame in the event of an accident taking place. However Fleet News believe there is still a lack of understanding of the new laws and the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

There’s an interesting article in Fleet News  debating the issues around businesses taking on young drivers and the implications on companies insurance. GM motors have taken a brave step of not employing drivers under the age of 22, in a step to reduce their insurance costs which they claim to have come down by £1.2 million in the first two years of introducing this policy. However there is a less drastic alternative, aide automotive have  introduced a new product called the Drivers Eye , an electronic sensor that monitor’s employee’s driving habits, giving immediate feedback and empowering companies to take responsibility for it’s drivers.

This product enables a company to monitor it’ employees whatever their age, however in particular it helps with younger drivers who are less experienced.  Not only does it enable companies to monitor driving habits but it also acts as a deterrent against dangerous driving if an individual knows they’re being monitored!

With tougher restrictions from the Health and Safety Executive regarding driving on business and corporate manslaughter, how can managers state they are doing everything reasonably practicable to reduce the daily road risks their drivers face?

Matthew Burke of aide automotive believes this product has the answer “This excellent device offers companies the ability to monitor drivers whilst they’re out on the road. Low cost and very easily installed The Drivers Eye captures key driving data in terms of speed, distance and sudden braking. This enables managers to assess employees driving habits and take proactive actions to improve the safety of other road users and there own  drivers”.

Daily walkround check or first use inspection

The check should consist of a walkround look over the whole vehicle or combination. The check should cover the external condition, ensuring in particular that the lights, tyres, wheel fixings, bodywork, trailer coupling, load and ancillary equipment are serviceable. Assistance may be required at some time during the inspection, for example to see that lights are working. A check of wheel nuts must be included as part of a driver’s inspection routine, if wheel trims are fitted, they will have to be removed in order to allow access. Loose wheel nuts feature regularly in the issue of prohibitions (PG9s) and are an obvious and potentially fatal road safety hazard.

Preventative Maintenance Inspections (PMI)

You must also ensure that vehicles are subject to preventative maintenance inspections (PMIs) in line with the time basis specified in your maintenance contract. Your PMI regime must include brake testing. Advice from the Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) states that reliable brake testing will require access to either a decelerometer or (preferably) a brake roller tester, the latter being available for public use at all goods vehicle testing stations subject to a nominal axle fee.
Operators who do not implement a full maintenance regime, but rely instead on annual test presentations as their main inspection indicator, will be reported to the Traffic Commissioner for non-compliance with an important undertaking attached to their licence. A poor annual test pass rate is indicative of an inadequate forward planning maintenance system.

Link to Transport Friends for further info: CLICK HERE

Quarry Management Magazine (April 2009)  features the tougher penalties issues raised by aide automotive. Find out more at Quarry Management or for more information on products that help businesses overcome issues such as faulty tyres or brakes visit aide automotive.

VOSA have stated that new powers will come into effect later this year, enabling VOSA examiners and the police to issue on the spot penalties for drivers who are breaking the rules!

Fixed penalties and possible points on driver’s licenses will be issued for defects such as faulty tyres and brakes. This emphasises the need for companies to invest in items such as Brake Testers and Tyre Pressure Monitors which will identify any defects rather than leaving discovering these problems to chance.  These products reduce risks by avoiding costly repairs and saving lives!

The death of a lorry driver, set alight when a truck overloaded with molten steel slag tipped over, was a “disaster waiting to happen”, a judge has said.

Carl Parsons’ employer, Short Brothers Plant Ltd, admitted breaking health and safety laws and was fined £100,000. Mr Parsons was engulfed in flames when the truck tipped over and the 800C slag ignited diesel spilling from the tank.  The 55-year-old father-of-two from Pontprennau, Cardiff, died two days after the accident in April 2002.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Short Brothers had not done proper health and safety checks on its vehicles at its site at the former Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) works on Rover Way, where Mr Parsons was working. The truck had been modified to carry the scorching hot slag. But the extra weight affected the brakes, which were not tested regularly, the court heard.

Sentencing, Judge Gerald Price QC said the accident could have been avoided as Mr Parson’s death happened “following the defendant’s failure to ensure his safety”.

Prosecutor Bryan Thomas described how part of the truck’s rigging was badly maintained and had seized. He said the brakes were capable of working, but to a reduced effect and the chain on the petrol cap had been broken and not replaced.

“The brakes failed as he drove up a slope to release the waste metal. But the truck rolled back and tipped over igniting the truck’s diesel fuel which had escaped through the leaking cap. .

HSE principal inspector Steve Scott said: “This is a most tragic case, and must serve as a warning to all companies engaged in potentially hazardous activities of the need for thorough and robust health and safety measures to protect their employees.”

Faulty brakes are a common cause of accidents not just in the UK.  Regular brake testing can help prevent such incidents as;

Sierra Leone
HGV accident in Freetown
At least 4 people died and many others were injured following a lorry collision early on Thursday in east Freetown. Mechanical failure saw an advancing lorry fail to brake, and then collide with a stationary lorry, laden with coal and timber, awaiting fuel. Neither lorry was displaying lights and most of the dead and injured were travelling on the back of one of the lorries. 10th October 2008

Luxembourg
HGV customs checks find shortcomings

In the last week HGV technical inspections at the Mertert customs check point in eastern Luxembourg have revealed 21 vehicles with 34 mechanical failings, primarily brakes, steering and suspension. The deficiencies of 3 German lorries saw them immediately banned and towed back to Germany. One lorry with 54 tonnes was 37% over its legal capacity, another notable finding was the number of drivers failing to adhere to mandatory rest periods. 29th October 2008.

USA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported

That in 2004, 416,000 large trucks were involved in traffic crashes in the U.S., that a total of 5,190 people died (12% of all the traffic fatalities reported in 2004) and an additional 116,000 were injured in those crashes. One out of eight traffic fatalities in 2004 resulted from a collision involving a large truck. In a widely cited study it was reported that brake defects were common and were found in 56% of the tractor-trailers involved in crashes. In the more recent Large Truck Crash Causation Study sponsored by DOT, it was concluded that 29.4% of all large truck crashes involved brake failure, brakes out of adjustment, or other brake related issues.

An out-of-control lorry which smashed into an office and killed two women could have caused a “massacre”, a coroner said. Two women died when the 35-tonne truck crashed through the front of an estate agent’s office in High Wycombe on 14 June 2002. Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett said it had been a lottery which of the many people out in the town centre would be hit when the lorry’s brakes failed at the top of a hill. The driver and his employers DE Transport have been summoned before Wycombe magistrates for failing to maintain the brakes and exceeding the weight limit on a vehicle.

The driver’s statement included that he told police the vehicle had had brake problems four to six weeks previously, but these had been fixed by a garage.

Sales Director Matthew Burke states “With BrakeCheck ( a modern day decelerometer) you have a hard copy print out that is time and date stamped to prove brakes are checked and are to the required braking efficiency, reviewing the above article its always easy to speak with hindsight but this is a warning for today’s vehicle operators to do their up most to check and report on BRAKES”.