Tipper Turnover
ACTIVITY:
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS / DELIVERY
SUB ACTIVITY:
MOBILE PLANT
TITLE
Tipper Turnover
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
WHAT HAPPENED
We have recently experienced two trailer rollovers within our Contract Haulage fleet. Whilst it was fortunate that no
one was hurt in either incident, tipper overturns are not uncommon within our Industry and have the potential to cause
very serious injury. Please make sure we minimise the potential for future incidents by ensuring wherever tipping
occurs, on site specific risk assessments and tipping rules are in place and enforced.
Incident One: A regular contract driver who was familiar with the site and site procedures was in the process of
tipping 10mm shale into the stockpile when the vehicle, which had tipped up to the 4th ram, suddenly overturned to its
right hand side with the vehicle unit remaining upright. At the time of the incident the vehicle was parked in a straight
line and on level ground and tipping into strong gusting winds. Whilst the investigation remains in progress, the initial
thought is that although the weather was severe, ram failure is the likely cause of the overturn.
Incident Two: A regular contract driver was transporting overburden from one quarry to another. He was
delivering his 3rd load of the day from the same stockpile when, at just over 2 rams, he noticed in his mirror that the
vehicle body was starting to lean. He attempted to lower the body but unfortunately the trailer tipped over. The tractor
unit and trailer service and inspection records have been checked and found to be in order. The material was very
wet, but fine with no sign of clay and therefore should have discharged relatively easily when tipping from an
aluminium tipper body. The loading shovel used to load the vehicle was sufficiently large to have the reach over a
high-sided bulk tipper; however the driver had no visibility as to exactly where the product was dropping into the
trailer. The Weighbridge at the source location is fitted with a camera system to allow loads to be checked before
vehicles leave the site, but on this occasion it was not used. Initial observations indicate the load may not have been
distributed evenly across the full body of the trailer, or it may have compacted on one side of the trailer when tipping.
ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IMAGES
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS TAKEN
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS IMAGES
ACTIVITY:
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS / DELIVERY
SUB ACTIVITY:
MOBILE PLANT
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