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K I L L S S H O R T A G E |
Kingpins, 5th wheels, turntables and landing legs are all safety-critical items on a truck-trailer combination and making sure they're fitted, employed and maintained correctly takes a certain amount of skill. Acquiring these skills requires expert training services as provided by Jost Transport Equipment (JTE).
Paul Collings reports.
"There's a gaping hole in the training curriculum for truck drivers, technicians, trailer builders and truck sales people" says Manie Roux, technical and product support manager, JTE.
"There's a general ignorance among transport workers about trailer components and the problem starts at the dealership where salesmen sell trucks for various applications with the same 5th wheel that the truck is equipped with as it leaves the assembly plant. They don't know that every application has specific requirements when it comes to coupling specifications, be that a 5th wheel, a drawbar coupling or a turntable."
Major oversights
It is a startling reality that no inclusion is made in any of the truck-related SETAs curricula to ensure personnel working with these components do so to the required standards. "There are no unit standards on the selling, fitment, use and maintenance of any of these components," says Roux. "And the impact of this oversight is witnessed on a daily basis on our roads, in loading docks and in our repair shop."
Despite the fact that operators cannot claim skills levy rebates from training on trailer components, Roux has a world-class training course on offer to JTE customers. "There are three target markets for the course: drivers, maintenance technicians, and trailer builders, OEMs and end users," he explains. "The courses involve theoretical and practical on-the-job training to upskill employees in their specific working environments."
JTE also offers 'Fleet Surveys', an audit of trailer components already fitted to fleets. "We conduct these surveys over weekends when trucks aren't operating. We generally examine all safety critical trailer components on between 10 to 15 trucks in the fleet and make recommendations on maintenance, correct use and replacement," says Roux.
Promoting safety and savings
"The courses also cover hydraulics, specifically telescopic cylinders for tippers. There is a widespread misconception that by increasing the hydraulic pump pressure, the tipper will lift more quickly," Roux continues. "Tipper cylinders are built to operate at a fixed speed. Increasing hydraulic pressure causes the cylinder to bulge, effectively destroying a very expensive piece of equipment."
Poor maintenance and operating procedures on 5th wheels, landing legs and drawbar couplings are not only costly (incorrect greasing of a 5th wheel can reduce component life from 1-million km to just 40 000 km) but potentially lethal.
"In a recent horror smash, a drawbar trailer came loose and ploughed into oncoming traffic killing one person and fatally wounding three others simply because a rubber bush had been removed from the eye of the coupling to accommodate an incompatible pin."
With training on these vital components readily available, who can really afford not to skill all personnel who rely on them for their income and safety?
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