The New Zealand transport industry has received an official endorsement from WorkSafe on establishing best safety practices around sideloader operations.
The Good Practice Guide: Safe Operation and Maintenance of Sideloaders (Good Practice Guide) is now being launched across the industry.
The guide was developed by the NZ Intermodal Transport Safety Group (NZITSG) to address intermodal safety concerns. The group is made up of transport operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry associations, and industry training provider Mito.
The group came together over three years ago with a mandate to work collaboratively across the wider transport sector with the overall objectives to reduce risk associated with sideloader operations, improve health and safety outcomes, increase industry and worker engagement.
“NZITSG worked to deliver a good practice guide designed to meet the practical and professional needs of transport operators and ensure the New Zealand transport industry is recognised as high performing, safe and sustainable,” NZITSG chairman Murray Young says.
“Statistics show that when using a sideloader, there is a higher chance of injury to truck drivers. NZITSG is equipped to comprehend the dangers and difficulties associated with sideloaders as they are essential to our supply chain transportation operations, sideloaders play a pivotal role in our businesses. Mitigating risk and reducing harm for our people is vital.
“The Good Practice Guide is a strong tool that puts control into the hands of the transportation sector, allowing us to demonstrate leadership by actively enhancing health and safety outcomes related to sideloader operations,” Young says.
National Road Carriers commercial transport specialist Stephen Woodward says development of the guide has been a real journey for the industry.
“We have come together, as experts in the field, aware of the safety risks with a common goal to create a set of standards that will prevent sideloader injuries.
“The experience from the working group is country-wide with representatives from across the entire supply chain – this means the guide is not one-dimensional. Manufacturers right through to operators have provided input to shape the programme and help ensure usability.
“It’s fantastic to be able to support such a valuable tool. Health and safety is an important issue and being able to provide a practical resource to help lift awareness, processes and standards is a really positive move for the industry,” Woodward says.
Transporting New Zealand interim chief executive Dom Kalasih says it’s another great example where a key part of the industry understands its activity and risks and led a targeted improvement initiative.
The good practice guide has distilled the key safety information across all sideloader user manuals into one standardised guide.
Relevant content has been collated, simplified and formulated in a way that is easier to understand – highlighting the critical health and safety information supported by a formalised annual certification process for sideloaders.
Maintaining the guide and keeping the standards current will be an ongoing process. It is supported by an industry accord that stakeholders and transport operators can sign up to. This demonstrates compliance and support for the guide, which will be continually improved to take into account technology advancements, training and the unit standard will be refreshed to reflect its evolution.
“The Good Practice Guide will deliver clear benefits to the transport industry,” Kalasih says.
“This is an excellent illustration of the transport industry taking the initiative to use its collective expertise and knowledge to reduce risk and create practical solutions that can be easily put into practice.
“End-to-end supply chain support can now occur with transport customers now able to ask for their providers to adhere to the Good Practice Guide, and operators can demonstrate with pride that they are part of the programme – demonstrating industry leadership,” he says.
Hammar NZ operations manager Ian Johnston says all three OEMs (Hammar NZ, Patchell Group and Steelbro) “have been on the same page” in developing the guide.
“We see the importance of safety training for operators and good maintenance to ensuring that side loaders are fit for purpose,” Johnston says.
Formal endorsement from WorkSafe sends a clear signal to the industry that the guide is supported and meets the standards required to deliver better health and safety outcomes. To receive endorsement, it must meet the same quality requirements as WorkSafe’s internally developed guidance.
The sideloader Good Practice Guide will be freely available for all transport operators on the web from early July and National Road Carriers (NRC) will be coordinating delivery of the certification labels to the OEMs.
Certification is an annual process requiring the core elements to the Good Practice Guide to be undertaken:
- Sideloaders are certified once a year by the OEM’s or their approved service agents, and an approved certification label is attached to the sideloader – similar to a vehicle certificate of fitness (COF)
- All lifting chains and lugs are certified annually
- New sideloaders are certified, and an approved certification label applied at manufacture
- Operators must receive general training that covers the principles of a sideloader and specific training on the make and model of equipment they will be operating
- All sideloader operators hold NZQA Unit Standard 17679 certification, confirming they are competent to operate a sideloader
- Complying with the Good Practice Guide’s requirements allows operators to demonstrate they are doing all that is reasonably practicable to manage the risk associated with the task, generally guidelines can help PCBUs and workers meet their duties under the HSWA 2015. An operator that is compliant with the Good Practice Guide is much better positioned to prevent an incident.
The New Zealand Intermodal Transport Safety Group (NZITSG) is made up of industry associations, representatives, transport operators from around the country, along with all three OEMs.
NZITSG members include John Anderson – LG Anderson Ltd, Greg Bailey – Steelbro, Calven Bonney – LW Bonney & Son, Clint Burgess – Pollock Cranes, Grant Darrah – Reliance Transport Ltd, Ian Johnston – Hammar NZ Ltd, Dom Kalasih – Transporting New Zealand, Don Patchell – Patchell Group, Ian Pauling – Coda, Mark Purdue – HWR Group Ltd, Stephen Woodward – National Road Carriers, Richard Smith – Mackleys, Murray Young – NZ Express Transport Ltd.
