The guide covers correct use of stands, risk assessments, technician training, and equipment checks aligned with LOLER and PUWER, and is for technicians, fleet managers, engineers and H&S professionals.
Intended to provide good practice guidance to technicians, operators and users of vehicle lifting and supporting equipment, it can be used to help to prevent serious injuries by promoting safer systems of work.
The areas of risk include: not applying the vehicle handbrake; not using appropriate wheel chocks (IRTE Wheel Chock Best Practice Guide); removal of wheels; removal of suspension components; collapse or failure of air suspension components (sudden collapse); removal of axles; removal of leaf springs; chassis work; removal of stabiliser components; removal of large components that alter centre of gravity of the lifted vehicle; and contaminated mating surfaces between the jacking point and stand saddle.
The guide focuses on the ‘selection and use’ of axle and chassis stands, of which there are many types, in lifting and supporting operations, but the principles can be considered in any other lifting activity.
The guide is aimed at the prevention of fatalities, injury or damage incidents associated with maintenance and repair of commercial vehicles, trailers, passenger carrying vehicles, wheeled plant, and equipment.
In his foreword, Nick Elliott, chair of the IRTE Professional Sector, a Professional Sector of the SOE, explains that working on vehicles which are supported only by jacks is “unacceptable” as there is a high risk of collapse, which results in a number of fatal incidents and serious injuries every year.
He says that suitable supports like axle stands should be used, while there are several critical tasks associated with lifting and supporting activities.
Elliott adds the Institute of Road Transport Engineers (IRTE), with others, have produced the guide to “support and help the industry to manage this risk”.
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