Truck company's proactive safety campaign a winner

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has congratulated TruckSafe operator Speedie Contractors and its operations manager, Tim Knowles, on winning the ‘Best Solution of a WHS Risk in a small business’ award at the NSCA National Safety Awards of Excellence last week.

Tim Knowles is a vice-chair of the ATA, and chair of the ATA’s national safety committee. His company, Speedie Contractors, employs 35 people to operate 32 rigid trucks and prime movers in the road-surfacing sector in Brisbane.

The award recognised the Speedie Contractors’ ‘NO Body in the BODY’ safety campaign, which addressed a recurrent issue with workers climbing into the body of a tipper in order to remove remaining product, despite company policies against such action.

After consultation with workers, fabricators and industry, Speedie Contractors installed three vibrating plates beneath the body of a truck to agitate the load when the tipper is raised. During three weeks of trials, drivers reported that there were zero occasions where they felt they needed to enter the truck body to manually remove residue, eliminating the risk of falls in this area. The solution is now being rolled out across the fleet.

ATA Chair Noelene Watson said the award was fitting recognition of Knowles’ dedication to safety in the industry.

“I congratulate Speedie Contractors for going the extra step to deal with safety issues like this at the source, rather than relying on a company policy that wasn’t producing results,” Watson said.

“It’s a proactive approach that should be commended - something we have also seen through Tim’s work as Chair of the ATA’s Safety Committee.”