Tumwater, WA — Spurred by separate rollaway incidents by which truck mechanics had been killed, Washington state has revealed a hazard alert.
Issued by the Washington State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program, the alert particulars the incidents. The mechanics, ages 47 and 62, had been crushed whereas welding the rear of a container chassis and repairing the suspension on a container chassis, respectively. Neither truck had its parking brakes set or wheels chocked.
Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge exhibits that 472 bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists died on the job between 2003 and 2020. Struck-by incidents, together with rollaways, had been the commonest trigger of those fatalities.
Tips for employers and mechanics embrace:
Install digital parking brake programs and driver warning alarms: The former of those can set a parking brake mechanically if a driver doesn’t, whereas the latter alerts drivers to when a parking brake isn’t set. Both may be mixed with fleet telematics to tell managers of rollaways or shut calls.
Create and implement an ordinary working process coverage for parking brake and wheel chock use: The SOP needs to be used to require all car operators, together with truck drivers and mechanics, to set a parking brake whether or not they go away or keep contained in the cab, in addition to flip the truck’s entrance wheels to the curb or facet of the street – and chock a minimum of one rear wheel – when parked on a slope.
Post high-visibility warning indicators: These indicators needs to be in upkeep outlets, terminal yards and loading docks to remind car operators to close off the engine, set the parking brake and chock rear wheels earlier than exiting a truck. Operators ought to observe parking brake and wheel chocking necessities throughout upkeep, loading and unloading, and use truck and trailer restraints and dock locks, if out there.
