Tipper trucks are essential vehicles, key pieces of kit that help to drive your material operations. And while they may seem like they’re easy enough to operate, they’re still heavy machinery, so it’s critical that the right safety precautions are taken before operating them.
Here’s why it’s crucial to have the right tipper truck safety measures in place for your teams, and how they can help to ensure the safety of everyone on site.
Ensure your drivers have the correct qualifications
Operating a tipper truck isn’t just a matter of jumping in and driving. To operate a tip truck, you actually need a specific qualification.
This is the RIIVEH304E. It’s a nationally-recognised qualification that teaches the participant the skills and capabilities to safety conduct tipper truck operations on site.
During the course, participants learn how to:
- Plan and prepare their tip truck operations
- Safely drive and operate their truck
- Ensure weight and load distribution
- Maintain the safety and security of their load
- Safely dump and spread the load at the fill site
It’s a crucial course for any individual or business looking to operate tip trucks.
But it’s only the first step for ensuring safety around your tipper trucks.
Maintaining safety standards during operation
As well as ensuring that you or your drivers are fully trained and have the right qualifications, it’s also critical that strict safety standards are followed on site. And while they may feel prescriptive, these steps can ensure that everyone goes home safe at the end of the day.
Identify hazards
By taking the time to identify hazards before tipping, you’re making sure that your drivers and crews are aware of what could potentially go wrong, and do their best to avoid these hazards—or mitigate them in the first place.
Ensure tipping surfaces are stable
Start by ensuring that your tipping surfaces are stable. That they’re firm and level—the whole site should be able to hold a tipper truck and its load.
Create a safe space
Ensuring your people and any hazards are out of the way is key to ensuring safe tipper truck operation. Make sure that nobody is around or near the truck when in operation, and no other vehicles are nearby.
Also ensure there are no obstacles above, that it’s clear overhead, and ensure that your vehicles are a safe distance away from any edges or tipping faces.
Set up exclusion zones
Setting up an exclusion zone goes one step further than simply clearing your site. You can use a temporary barrier to do this, which is as simple as safety bollards, witches hats, and barrier tape.
Use a spotter
Having a trained spotter on site who can guide your tipper truck drivers helps to improve the safety of your operations. Your spotter will communicate with the drive, looking out for people or obstacles in the area, and use signals to let them know if the coast is clear, or if they need to stop immediately.
Check the load before tipping
Often your load can shift during transportation, so it’s important to check it before you start tipping. Make sure it’s evenly distributed across the vehicle, that it can safely and smoothly be released, and it’s not likely to get caught under the tailgate. A qualified driver will know to do this.
Clear communication
Making sure your people speak to each other on site is a big step in ensuring their safety. The times and locations of your tipping operations should be communicated to your teams, and your tipper operations should notify people when they’re on site and ready to tip, and also confirm when it’s been completed. It doesn’t have to be constant chatter over the radio—just enough so people are aware.
Get the right equipment with our tipper truck hire solutions
At Rentco, we help you ensure a safer site by providing you with reliable and well-maintained tipper truck hire. Our equipment is regularly serviced and maintained, to ensure that they operate at their best and create a safer working environment for your drivers.
So the next time you need tipper truck hire, get in touch with us. Our range of tipper trucks are ready and waiting to help you get your materials where they need to go.
