EVERY new truck loader crane sold in the UK must now be fitted with an interlocking system or an equivalent mechanical solution to prevent the cranes being operated without stabilisers being deployed.
This announcement from the government’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has rocked the UK truck loader industry which says that the move, while sound in principle, is impractical to implement.
The HSE believes that there are too many accidents, including many that it says go unreported. It knows of 12 incidents in the past five years in the UK, including one fatality.
The HSE has issued an official ‘improvement notice’ to one company, one of whose operators was killed by an overturning truck, lifting without stabilisers. The notice instructs the company to fit stabiliser interlocks to all its cranes to prevent them lifting without stabilisers deployed.
No legislation is required to make stabiliser interlocks compulsory. The HSE has simply decided to ‘reinterpret’ existing legislation, based on the European Union directive Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992. Currently, truck loaders should employ ‘state of the art’ safety features, the HSE says, and the ‘state of the art’ has now moved, it argues, to the point where additional safety features must now be provided.
Several manufacturers now offer systems that prevent cranes being used incorrectly. Among the technology is the EVS system from Danish manufacturer HMF. This system uses an advanced inclination controller (AIC) to detect when the crane is subjected to turning forces and cuts out the crane. Others, such as Palfinger, offer a system which uses sensors to detect whether the stabilisers have been properly deployed. Without the stabilisers out, the crane cannot slew over the vulnerable side of the truck.
The HSE is ruling, in effect, that such systems are now compulsory, even though almost no users in the UK have so far opted for them.
The ruling will not be retroactive – loader cranes already in operation in the UK will not have to be fitted with safety equipment – but it appears that it will take effect immediately. At time of going to press, the HSE had given no indication that there would be any period of grace allowing manufacturers’ UK distributors to prepare. HMF, for example, has yet to make its EVS system available in the UK, even though it was launched ‘officially’ last year. It is embarking on a programme of training for it next month.
While few wish to be seen objecting to any measures that improve safety, the Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers and Importers (ALLMI) is objecting to the way in which the HSE is approaching the issue.
Doug Dyson, chairman of the ALLMI said that his organisation was in favour of stabiliser interlocks ‘in principle’, adding ‘but in practice it cannot be done overnight’. He said that no UK distributor was ready to start supplying cranes with stabiliser interlocks to all its customers. The HSE should have given the industry two years to prepare, he said.
Dyson added that there were also doubts about the reliability and vulnerability of stabiliser interlocks.
Some ALLMI members believe that that any revision of the regulations should be conducted at a European Union level, and not imposed on the UK unilaterally. They point out that no member of the European technical committee drafting the European standard PrEN 12999, which includes representatives from both ALLMI and the HSE, considered stabiliser interlocks to be viable.
Strongest opposition to compulsory outrigger deployment comes from the forestry sector where cranes are regularly used without stabilisers since unmade roads through forests often have banks that slope away, preventing the use of standard stabilisers. Operators rely on ‘feel’ and ‘experience’ to ensure they do not roll trucks over.
Many operators in grabbing applications working at short radii also prefer not to use stabilisers. Because they often move the truck only short distances between operations, deploying and stowing stabilisers for every lift is too time consuming.
