Joined: Aug 31, 2002 Posts: 18733 Location: March Cambs
Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: Car passenger died when lorry shed load
Car passenger died when lorry shed load
By Auslan Cramb
Last Updated: 1:43am BST 12/04/2008
A judge has expressed "surprise and concern" that lorry drivers did not receive compulsory training on securing heavy loads.
Christina Fraser, 24, a beauty consultant, was killed after a 30-tonne digger rolled off a lorry and hit the car she was a passenger in.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that she was being driven home to Tain, Ross-shire, by a colleague when the accident happened on the A9 north of Inverness in 2006. Her parents and fiancé, Garry Ross, chanced on the scene of the crash.
Gary Allan, QC, prosecuting, said they felt a sense of "complete and utter desolation", and told the court that it was "remarkable" that lorry drivers did not receive compulsory training on loading and securing heavy loads.
He said the case revealed what appeared to be a "defect" in the industry that the Crown Office had now raised with the Health and Safety Executive.
Lord Brailsford admonished the driver of the lorry, Walter MacLennan, 64, after he admitted a breach of Health and Safety at Work legislation. He fined his employers, Munro & Sons of Alness, Easter Ross, £3,750.
Source: The Telegraph _________________ You're not finished when you're defeated. You're finished when You Quit.
Not another one. I thought all this had been sorted ten years ago after the Cornish accident at Castle-an-Dinas, where the digger bucket swung out and killed 5 people.
Wade had told the jury he had received no instruction from any employer about loading in ten years of work.
He knew nothing about the metal pins used to secure digger arms, nor had it been his practice to chain the bucket arm.
There was a spare chain on the lorry but Wade said he had not used it to secure the digger because: "I thought it was safe".
The judge said he was satisfied in the absence of any training or supervision from either of the other defendants, Wade loaded the excavator in exactly the same way he always loaded excavators.
"You knew no different way. You had been taught no different way. You picked up the job as you went along, in the process learning bad habits. It seems from the evidence you were by no means alone in that," said the judge.
"Had you been properly instructed you would have followed those instructions. So it is the failures of others which are largely to blame for what happened."
_________________ John B
"Never ask someone if they're from Yorkshire. If they're not, you'll only embarrass them, and if they are, they'll tell you."
Joined: Mar 19, 2007 Posts: 985 Location: Leicester
Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:18 am Post subject:
The chains restraining these large machines never look strong enough to me, does anyone know typically what the breaking strain might be? If these large loads ever do get in to a hard braking situation I fail to see how these chains will ever hold. _________________ I have just been looking at my marriage certificate to see if it has an expiry date.
Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 915 Location: Dortmund.Germany
Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:24 am Post subject:
safety secureing equipement has to have
a attachment which shows the capabilities
as regards how much tension they can hold,
also the equipement must be 100% in
good working condition,BUT what is
even more estential the placement of the load restraint straps,chains, anti-skid -matting
etc must be total correct,one weak point and
its all a waste of time,
safety chains must be tested and marked .
yearly,,
Joined: Sep 01, 2007 Posts: 319 Location: up me own ass
Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:59 pm Post subject:
Great to see what this countries coming to
Do away with common sense and replace it with rules and regulations
I am disgusted to see the loader/driver get away Scott free with this, and the company take the entire burden
I bet he loaded it up on his own with out the company bosses seeing it.
There for he should take the responsibility for his actions, like prison.
But once again we can behave like brain deed morons in today’s goody too shoes socialist Brittan because we are working with in the laws
Please don’t tell me that’s all the family got please, a share of the £3750.
What kind of deterrent is this, to stop people doing it again in the future?
Joined: Nov 01, 2003 Posts: 7394 Location: Just trucking about
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject:
Agencylad wrote:
I am disgusted to see the loader/driver get away Scott free with this, and the company take the entire burden
I bet he loaded it up on his own with out the company bosses seeing it.
There for he should take the responsibility for his actions, like prison.
Living with the memories of that day will be some punishment in its self.
There are very few details in the article about exactly what happened or why the digger departed the trailer. The driver concerned was 64, so it probably wasn't the first digger he'd ever moved which means there may be more to this than we know. If a securing chain failed thats as much the employers responsibility as the drivers. _________________ Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Its about learning to dance in the rain.
Joined: Dec 21, 2002 Posts: 1025 Location: Lanarkshire
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:11 am Post subject:
I think now that any chains used must have test certificates and also be marked , the company that we sub contract to check our chains regular for stress and replace any that looks worse the wear , I got my health & safety equipment checked and some items replaced like eyewash bottles replaced a few weeks ago , as the eyewash bottles have expiry dates on them , fire extingquishers changed , and all ratchets and straps changed as well .
Its sometimes when you read the results of these tragic stories , that do some people really care .I cant see how any driver no matter how heavy the load is would move a machine of any wieght on any public roadway.
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