In a recent public inquiry, Traffic Commissioner for the East of England Richard Turfitt took regulatory action against Carey London Ltd, a construction and transport operator based in St Albans. A collision with a bridge resulted in the load, an 8-tonne excavator, being knocked off the trailer bed of the vehicle and onto the adjacent footpath, which exposed multiple breaches of safety and compliance obligations after.
Driver Contra drove the excavator onto the load bed and then secured it with the arm of the excavator facing the headboard. He then apparently measured the height of the load using a tape measure (not a measuring stick) before moving to another area of the site where the road plates were collected and secured with ratchet straps. The height of the load was measured to be 15’4”. The arm of the excavator was not re-stowed after the excavator was moved to allow the loading of the plates. There were four chains available, but these were not used to secure the excavator. The risk assessment at that time was not sufficient and consequently control measures such as written instructions were not present.
The vehicle passed under a first bridge without difficulty, but he then struck the second bridge. The operator stated that Mr Contra had seen the bridge height of 15’ but proceeded to attempt to pass under the bridge, at speed.
The driver also failed to adhere to tachograph regulations, and this raised concerns about the operator’s oversight of driver compliance and training. The company was found to have failed in its legal undertakings to ensure that vehicles were fit and serviceable, to employ an effective written driver defect reporting system, and to comply with laws on drivers’ hours and tachograph regulations.
Commissioner Turfitt said “A professional driver is not expected to allow lapses of attention as they are in charge of vehicles which are by their very nature and size, dangerous. The decision to drive in that state presents an unacceptable risk and the decision making is not indicative of a professional driver…..
Whilst safety management is often miscategorised as an antidote to common-sense, all operators need to appreciate that risk assessment is not simply a matter of waiting for a danger to materialise, to then take action after the event. The outcome of this incident could have been truly catastrophic. Effective control measures should prevent an incident from occurring, protecting others from injury, drivers from the lasting impact, the reputation of the business and its liabilities. Compliance should make good business sense to any reputable operator.”
The vocational entitlement of Driver Contra was suspended for a period of two months and the operator had their licence curtailed by half and warned that any further failures would be treated more severely.
The full written decision containing the can be found here.
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