As Australia's transport industry continues to deal with the effects of severe flooding and other extreme weather events the ATA has issued a rare safety alert for operators.
In a rare move, the Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) Industry Technical Council (ITC) has issued a Safety Alert for truck operators as a response to the abnormal rains that are impacting so many operators and equipment.
The ITC has issued the Safety Alert – Differentials, Driveline, Suspension and Wheel-ends to warn about the impacts of water and road damage. Read the Safety Alert here.
Within hours of the Safety Alert being issues, the ATA says in its weekly newsletter that it received the following feedback:
- “Very good information and a timely reminder that requires high priority attention in our fleet workshops. This will be tool-boxed nationally within my business.”
- “That’s a great Safety Alert and something we discuss with our customers as well. Am I able to share this within the team to discuss /share with our customers.”
- “This Safety Alert highlights really pertinent information.”
- “Great alert, great initiative, I will share with many contacts.”
Meanwhile, the ATA says there have been further comments about operating in floodwater and the negative impacts of the extended wet.
Trailer-EBS is also suffering with water ingress into the EBS connectors and contact corrosion.
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To counter the fault warnings, the ATA says drivers are disconnecting the system, thus de-powering the EBS system. This is dangerous because it results in no ABS or Roll Stability Control.
The ATA says it’s not easy for operators, especially in a climate of spare parts shortages. If anyone has images of water-damaged roads, email them through to the ATA and it will send them to the appropriate government bodies.