Reversing and vehicle moving alarms

[Steve Frazier]

Common sense has nothing to do with exposure. If there is an accident and a safety item has been disabled, the law says you are negligent and you can rest assured an attorney will spend large sums of money to make you part with yours. I agree the alarms are a nuisance at times, but I wouldn't consider disconnecting one for the reason I've stated.

 

[TDU]

My two bobs worth.....btw thanks for putting me onto this thread, digger.

I agree with all of the above comments. All of our equipment is fitted with working alarms. No alarms=no go! Again, with multiple equipment on site it is up to the operator and ground crew to be 'situation aware'. We cannot wrap everybody up in bubblewrap.

Now after saying this and listening to these bloody beepers going off for twelve hours a day at work, for anything up to three weeks at a time. I arrive home and what do I find? A bloody deveopment going on behind my house and it has been happening for the last eight months. So every time I'm home on R&R I again have to listen to these bloody things. :Banghead

I too have phoned the contractors and got the 'we have to have them etc blah blah because Worksafe blah blah'. I then tell them what my position is in the industry and to stop telling 'grandma, (or should that read grandpa) how to suck eggs' Most machines have a two pitched beeper and yes, they can be turned down. They have since complied with my request.

Whilst on this subject, I have been reliably informed that due to the annoyance factor of these beepers a new stipulation has been introduced in the UK. They now have a beeper that can only be heard within, I believe, approximately 10 metres of the machine. It works to a different audible level. I will try and find out more and then again, I might see if I can get myself appointed their Australian agent. :wink2

TDU

 

[digger242j]

Most machines have a two pitched beeper and yes, they can be turned down.

I presume you mean just that--down, but not off?

Where I used to live, 30 years ago, I was in a valley, that joined a larger valley, that opend onto the river. Across the river was a steel mill. Somwhere over there, was a machine with a backup alarm, that could be clearly heard working all night long, and that was probably a mile or more away.

(Since then we've solved that problem by tearing down all the mills and letting people overseas make all the steel, but that's a whole different discussion...)

 

[digger242j]

I gave this some further thought and have something to add.

Earlier, I pointed out that equipment is noisy in and of itself. Perhaps the benefit of a properly working alarm is to notify the guy on the ground that the large and dangerous piece of equipmet that he has been listening to as it moved away from him, is now moving toward him. (Wich still doesn't mitigate anyone's personal responsibility to know who or what is moving around in the area.)

 

[zricketts]

Possible Solution for Safety and Noise

A system being developed in the US by Preco Electronics appears to help with some of the issues that have been brought up in this forum. Based on a study and conclusion by Todd Ruff with NIOSH -Evaluation of Devices to Prevent Construction Equipment Backing Incidents - SAE Document Number: 2004-01-2725. A camera and radar collision warning system provide an improved audible and visual alert to the operator of a vehicle or piece of equipment when an object (i.e. person, vehicle, etc) are detected then the operator is able to verify the object with the camera to avoid an accident.

Preco has also added an additional feature to this system by using a specialized self-adjusting back-up alarm that will normally operate at a lower decibel, but still be 5 decibels above the ambient noise. Once the collision warning system detects an object, the alarm will increase to 112 decibels. This significant increase in volume helps to overcome the issues faced when workers tuning out the "beep beep beep" that can lead to accidents. MSHA inspectors have already signed off on the system at locations throughout the country where there have been significant noise complaints.

This offers a way to overcome some of the technological issues with improved operator and worker warning, and reducing the continuous annoying "beep beep beep" sound.

 

[Grader4me]

Zricketts,welcome to HEF. Just curious as to how much this system would cost? I realize that you shouldn't put a price tag on safety, but some companies would not be able to afford this new technology.

 

[zricketts]

Grader4me, the system comes in different configurations, but here are some list prices: Stand alone PreView Collision Warning Radar system $487 US; PreView Collision Warning Radar with S.A.S. Specialized Self-Adjusting Back Up Alarm $631 US. The camera systems have the greatest range of prices, entry level black & white $581 US, up to $1800 US for the ultra rugged color system. More Product Info

Thanks for the 'welcome' I'm looking forward to more interesting threads and sharing of information.

Regards,
Zac

 

[Grader4me]

I was expecting it to be more expensive than that. Sounds like a really good system. Thanks for the info. I am sure the other members will appreciate it as well.

 

[LightningLoader]

At the risk of hi-jacking my own thread I have ordered one of these for next week;

http://www.mucktruck.com.au/

Do you think it needs a reversing alarm?

Man I need one of those for working in the yard. We have very steep hills.

 

[LightningLoader]

I tend to think that alertness and backing alarms may not help you if there's poor visibility at the work site. We have a lot of orange groves here and it's not unusual to have backing accidents because even if the worker on the ground can hear the truck or the backing alarm they can't necessarily see where it's coming from. Could be about to come around the corner and wipe them out.

I do think that people get de-sensatized to the back up alarm sound too after hearing it all day. Not sure alarms work, but if I was in a lawsuit I would like to be able to say that I had every possible safety feature working whether I thought they were helpful or not.