Truck loader crane safety has again come under the spotlight when a woman in the UK was killed by the extended stabiliser legs of a moving truck.
Margaret Melia, aged 56, died after a 17t Scania truck rounded a corner and hit a parked car, and causing a four-car shunt of parked vehicles. Two other women suffered serious head injuries. According to local police, the women were standing between two of the parked cars. The 23 year old driver of the truck suffered shock, but was physically unhurt.
The incident happened on 29 January.
According to witnesses quoted in the local press, the passenger-side stabiliser of the truck was extended at the time of the incident. With their investigations continuing, the police were unable to confirm this.
ConnectingCranes has learned that the truck was fitted with a 19tm knuckleboom crane, fitted three years ago and in accordance with EN 12999. The stabiliser legs had a primary and secondary locking device. The primary lock was a cam type, the secondary was a spring loaded clip. The first lock has to be actively engaged, while the secondary lock – a back-up system that is not designed to be relied upon – engages automatically.
Like most truck loader cranes on the roads, no warning device was fitted to indicate whether the legs were properly stowed, or ‘up-and-in’. Such a device is not mandatory in Europe – although UK truck loader cranes must be fitted with warning devices that indicate if the boom and jib have not been stowed properly. This measure is designed to protect physical infrastructure, namely over bridges, from being hit by flailing cranes.
Legs ‘up-and-in’ warning indicators are offered by most manufacturers as an optional item, but even though they cost only in the region of 500 euros, it is an option that only about a third of customers specify.
The issue of stabiliser indicators is already on the agenda for the truck loader crane industry. In August 2001 the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) issued a statement stipulating that every new truck loader crane sold in the UK had to be fitted with an interlocking system or an equivalent mechanical solution to prevent the cranes being operated without outriggers being deployed. Although it has never officially retracted this directive, it has chosen to work with the UK’s Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers & Importers (ALLMI) into finding ways of making its initial ruling practical before seeking to enforce it.
The HSE’s remit is workplace safety, and so is primarily concerned that cranes are deployed properly for safe operation. The HSE is concerned that legs are ‘down-and-out’ at the right time. The issue of stabilisers flying out while trucks are being driven – ‘up-and-in’ indicators – is a matter of concern for the police, who look after the highways. The UK law that states truck loader cranes must have warning devices to indicate that they are stowed properly is part of the Road Traffic Act.
While the HSE’s demand for stabiliser interlocks to ensure ‘down-and-out’ operations met with some resistance from the UK industry on grounds of practicality, ALLMI is actually leading calls for the Road Traffic Act to be amended to make ‘up-and-in’ warning indicators compulsory.
ALLMI chairman Doug Dyson said: ‘My personal opinion is that up-and-in warning indicators or interlocks should be adopted universally. It would be quite a simple amendment to the Road Traffic Act and far more achievable than down-and-out interlocks.’
