Incident alert

LOCATION:

ROAD TRANSPORT

ACTIVITY:

TRANSPORT / DELIVERY

SUB ACTIVITY:

PRODUCT DELIVERY

ALERT STATUS:

Normal

DATE ISSUED:

16/01/2012

INCIDENT No:

00322

TITLE

Vehicle Cab Fire

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

ACCIDENT / INCIDENT DETAILS

A recent cab fire caused extensive damage to the interior of a truck belonging to a contract haulier. The driver had just got back in his vehicle after loading on one of our sites and was placing his thermos flask behind the driver’s seat when he saw a small flame.

There followed a sudden flash of flames and the driver escaped out of the drivers door. It took 4 full size fire extinguishers to put the fire out. The driver suffered minor burns to his ear whilst escaping from the cab – although he was wearing his safety helmet at the time which protected his head from the flames.

On investigation it was found that the terminals for operating his tipping gear were exposed and that some cleaning material aerosols which he stored behind his seat had come into contact with the exposed terminals and an arc of electricity had pierced one of the aerosols and caused the explosive reaction.

ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IMAGES

LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS TAKEN

Simple products, such as furniture polish, can be classed as hazardous to health and the packing will display one of the symbols above. The aerosol which exploded was silicon based dashboard cleaner. Anything with a warning label should be considered under COSHH assessments and suitable controls in their use and storage implemented.

The cleaning substance was stored loosely behind the driver’s seat – Do you have a safe, secure place to store all tools, equipment and substances? Do you carry out housekeeping audits on vehicles?

The tipping equipment terminals were not correctly covered (isolated)? – Is all equipment inspected on a regular basis and contained appropriately?

The aerosol exploded because it was flammable – are all substances hazardous to health assessed and control measures in place to ensure safe use and storage?

The driver was unaware of the risk of storing aerosols behind his seat – are all employees trained in the safe use and storage of substances under COSHH?

LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS IMAGES

Click image to enlarge