Road service safety
Managing the risks of road service Techs must recognize hazards and take steps to prevent accidents By Kevin Rohlwing
D
uring a conference in Europe last year, I had the opportunity to discuss the commercial truck tire business with a tire dealer from Israel. He had some questions about training and what started as a simple inquiry evolved into a chance for both of us to learn more about how truck tires and wheels are serviced in our respective countries. Among the things that he found fascinating was the role of the service vehicle in North America. Most European road service vehicles are things of beauty with compressors, generators and tire machines. The machines literally fold out to the side so the technician can demount and mount the tire and barely break a sweat. When he learned that service trucks on the other side of the Atlantic still required the technician to do everything by hand (except farm and OTR), he wondered out loud how we could find people to work like that. The truth is we don’t have much of a choice. Between the number of trucks needed to cover such a large area and the popularity of mounted tire programs, the economics of replacing cargo area with a machine will never add up. Commercial tire dealers need trucks that can deliver and pick up different quantities of tires while simultaneously acting as road service vehicles. It’s a totally different business over here in almost every aspect, so the manual labor component is one that will never be completely erased from the equation. In order to meet the needs of the largest fleets, dealers have to deliver tires and perform on-site service on a regular basis. Without the versatility of these service trucks, the North American commercial tire business grinds to a halt. Since the trucks serve two purposes, employers must address all of the risks associated with operating a fleet of road service vehicles. Emergency road service presents the greatest degree of risk without a doubt. When an employee is working on the side of a street, road or highway, passing traffic creates a higher level of hazards. That is the primary reason why technicians are advised to park the service truck behind the disabled vehicle. When the service truck is behind the disabled vehicle and the amber beacon and strobe lights are activated, it should be a sign to oncoming traffic that there is an active work zone on the shoulder. I say “should” because I’ve had to dodge my share of right lane drivers who refused to move over and give me space to work. Parking the service truck in front of the disabled vehicle may seem like it shields the technician, but it actually increases the risks because oncoming traffic will not recognize the presence of someone working on what appears to be a truck stopped on the shoulder. With the service truck safely parked behind the disabled vehicle with the amber beacon and strobe lights activated,
www.moderntiredealer.com
the primary danger zone is between the two vehicles. Again, the service truck is not a shield, it’s more like a battering ram. I investigated a fatal accident on an interstate highway a few years ago where the technician was working between the service truck and the disabled vehicle parked directly in front of it. A passing truck hit the back of the service truck and drove it under the trailer, crushing the technician. He never had a chance. Making matters worse was the fact that there was limited shoulder space on that stretch of highway and there was an exit ramp just a few hundred feet ahead. If the disabled truck had literally moved 500 feet forward, the entire accident could have been avoided.
High visibility clothing is a necessity whenever servicing tires on the side of our nation’s highways.
Looking back, there were definitely instances where I should have refused to service the tires unless the vehicle was moved. Road service technicians must be trained to analyze the situation in order to determine if the tires can be serviced safely and if they decide that it’s too dangerous, management must back them when they tell the driver the vehicle has to be moved. There will always be exceptions, but in the case of the accident that I investigated, both tires on the dual were shredded so moving it forward a few hundred feet would not have created any additional costs for the customer. Even if it does destroy what would be an otherwise repairable tire, it’s not worth someone’s life. Too many unnecessary chances are taken because the technician does not exercise his right to have the driver move the vehicle. Management has
53
