Life and near-death for oilman in round - Downstream Magazine

FPS transport briefing – 1
A full turnout of delegates from fuel distributors
around Britain received comprehensive briefings on the
latest issues at the FPS Transport Managers’ Update
held in Birmingham. On this and the next three pages
Downstream brings you the key points
O Licence Q and A CDG/ADR
Matthew Barker, VOSA.
O Licence Legal Compliance
MATTHEW RAN HIS WORKSHOP as an
open question session. Issues addressed
included:
ATFs
Fees at the new network of Accredited
Test Facilities are likely to be uniform,
and more local bases will provide
benefits for tanker operators, including
less downtime and reduced driving and
mileage to get to a test centre. The
structure should reduce test costs and
lead to healthy competition. ATFs will be
provided by the private sector and VOSA
staff will be working the lines to check
vehicles, he said.
ADR
The fail rate is very low, with most
problems arising from incorrect
documentation and tank inspections.
On tanks, there is likely to be an ADR
test for new tanks and a different one
for old tanks that were not built to ADR
standards.
Sideguards
Delegates complained of having to put a
bar across the meter box to comply with
a tester’s request, and pointed out that
the bars had no protective use and
interfered with the work of the driver.
Matthew said that sideguards are a grey
area with testers.
Roadside checks
There was annoyance that VOSA
officials apply the letter of the law from
the regulations handbook rather than
applying common sense.
Fire extinguishers
Matthew said that these are the biggest
area of prohibitions, but the easiest to
avoid. An in-cab extinguisher has to be
‘accessible but not within arm’s reach of
the driver’. Inspectors found a lot of
extinguishers either locked up or with
mounts rusted up so they could not be
used in an emergency. Drivers should
always check extinguishers before
leaving the depot.
Operator Compliance Risk Scoring
VOSA is now able to grade drivers’ hours
offences on a national fleet basis so
penalties are fairer across the board.
Each operator receives a
red/amber/green grading according to
his status within the whole national
lorry fleet and those on red status can
expect more checks to encourage them
to raise their standards.
Fixed penalties
These go hand in hand with
immobilisation and a chain removal fee
of £80 applied.
Web monitoring
A new web link,
www.businesslink.gov.uk/servicereports
allows operators to access their vehicle
test histories, encounter reports and
OCRS ratings online.
ADR signage
The new environmental ‘dead tree and
fish’ sign is needed on tankers carrying
petroleum products from 1 January 2011
Instructions in Writing
Matthew advised that the best place to
keep this is in the cab, rather than
issuing it to drivers in person.
Over-securing a fire extinguisher
can make it unusable
Clive Dennis, HSE
CLIVE’S REVIEW OF CDG/ADR
highlighted seven key areas of
problems seen during roadside checks.
These were fire extinguishers,
documentation, other equipment,
Instructions in Writing (IiW), ADR
certificates and other training, vehicle
plating and placarding, and leakage.
Extinguishers are the single biggest
reason for enforcement action, running
at a third of breaches, although this has
shrunk from being nearer a half. He
cautioned that, while extinguishers had
to have tamper-proof ties, they could
not be so secure as to stop use.
Clive conceded that a linked paper
document was an acceptable
workaround to a distributor’s inability
to display a product ID in full on
computerised documentation because
of software field limitations.
Talking of first-quarter 2010 figures,
Clive said there has been little change
from four or five years ago. Of 678
dangerous goods vehicles stopped, 39%
showed CDG breaches, 54 had merited
prohibition notices and a further 156
had received ‘other actions’.
Enforcement problems have been
limited following changes to the
Instructions in Writing rules.
Clive declared that HSE will operate a
‘light touch’ policy when it comes to
checking new EHS marks. He pointed
out that ADR 9.1 certificates do not
cover the tank of tankers.
Commenting on the switch to
computer-based information systems,
Clive asked if anyone in the audience
was yet using electronic documentation
for ADR. “It will come,” he predicted.
Downstream Winter 2010 14 www.downstreammagazine.co.uk