Not to sure of the story, but was thinking it's worth sharing just as a reminder as to what can happen. Dont know what the laws are around the world but see tippers going around here loaded up with all sorts all the time. 99 out of a 100 times nothing will move but that one time ??? Thursday, April 23, 2009 » 07:08pm "A Perth man has died in a Sydney hospital after a lump of concrete fell off the back of a truck and smashed through the windscreen of his car in the inner-city yesterday. The 53-year-old was driving though Darlinghurst, when a 10 kilogram slab of concrete from a truck travelling in the opposite direction, crashed through his car's windshield. He was rushed to hospital, but died during surgery. Police would like to speak to the driver of a construction truck which was heading south towards the airport at the time. They say the truck driver may be unaware of the incident."
Thats a sad thing, and a lot of laws help certain situations, we have a tarp law around these parts, but it wouldn't stop chunk of concrete that size from blasting out of the box.
Lets look at it this way guys. We are not only responsible for ourselves, but everyone around us. We are the ones loading trucks, if we have any question of something not being in the truck in a way that it is secure, we need to take the time to make sure it is secure. Not only for the trucks protection when its dumping, but also to prevent a situation that you shared with us. Its easy to say, oh that laborer knows when the backup alarm is going, they should be out of the way. Things happen, maybe that laborer was in the middle of something and didnt realize, after all, backup alarms become background noise. Im currently going through my 40 hour OSHA Hazmat class. We have gone over a few things in the class that transfers to every job, not just hazmat. We sit above most everyone. We have the ability to keep an eye on everyone else. From our vantage point, we can find an issue pretty easily. Weather it be a guy on the ground in a full Hazmat suit whos air supply hose is about to be pinched, or a couple of kids wandering on the site. Look out for each other, that way we can all go home at the end of the day.
Sad to hear of this incident, but also, sad to say that the operator that loaded the truck probably owns part of the responsibility here too. A piece of concrete that size wouldn't blow out of the bed, and it's highly unlikely that even a large bump in the road would bounce it out of the bed. It had to have been ready to fall out because of how it was loaded. As Turbo said, the operator is the one in a position to forsee that problem...