Canadian invention to improve dump truck safety and save lives in BC and Canada

News Release – For immediate release May 19th 2009 - Contact Mark Deverson 1-877-942-4225

Canadian invention to improve dump truck safety and save lives

A device that could reduce or eliminate accidents and deaths that occur when dump trucks lose their load on roadways has received both Canadian and US patent approval.

Mark Deverson’s invention, the Precision EndGate’s Dump Box Safety System, works by locking a truck’s tailgate in place to ensure cargo does not escape.

It’s a system that could save lives and prevent accidents like the one that recently claimed the
lives of a Toronto couple whose vehicle was struck by a tailgate that flew off a dump truck.

A similar high-profile incident occurred in 2000 when John Morris Rankin, a member of Nova Scotia's famous Rankin Family musical group, plunged into the harbour after swerving to miss a pile of salt left in the middle of the road.

Deverson says the problem of insecure tailgates is prevalent but underreported, with most
companies preferring to keep the issue under wraps.

“The issue is only reported when an actual accident happens on a highway, public road or
when there is loss of life,” he says.

A recent survey of more than 250 businesses across Canada found 61 per cent have an
issue with inattentive employees’ accidently dumping partial loads and 44 per cent reported
having an issue in the last year.

“What this tells us is that accidents or near-misses with the potential for loss of life are
happening every day across North America,” Deverson says. “My goal is to make this
system mandatory on all dump trucks and trailers which will provide safer roads for all
Canadians.”

Deverson is speaking with local and federal representatives about this issue and how it
relates to the National Safety Code for Motor Carriers Standard 10 (Cargo Securement).

“Our vision at Precision EndGate Safety is to have our Dump Box Safety System installed on every dump truck and trailer in Canada and the US. As a result, this installation will stop accidental dumping and protect life.”

For more information you can visit http://www.precisionendgate.com or reach Mark
Deverson at 1-877-942-4225.

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Are Dump Trucks Safe to Drive Behind?

By Anne -Rachelle McHugh

It’s difficult to imagine a construction site or maintenance yard without them. Dump trucks, used to transport everything from gravel and sand to the salt that takes the slick from our streets, are everywhere.

But are these monster machines safe to drive behind? And can we be assured their heavy loads will stay where they’re meant to be – inside the dump box and held securely in place by the tailgate/end gate.

A quick google search reveals an unsettling number of accidents and near misses that occur when dump truck lose their load on neighbourhood roads and highways. What results can range from inconvenient to tragic.

Here are just a few examples:

A Bellingham woman sustained an eye injury and was taken to hospital after pea gravel from a dump truck shattered the right front passenger window of the pickup truck she was a passenger in. Two lanes of freeway traffic were closed while the loose debris was cleared from the road.

In Baltimore, a dump truck spilled asphalt on an Anne Arudel County road, delaying school buses and commuters throughout the morning while parts of Interstate 97 and Route 100 were closed.

Heavy gravel fell from the back of a dump truck, leaving police to deal with traffic and a mess strewn along a 100’ stretch of the East Falmouth Highway in Massachusetts. Police were eventually able to intercept the dump truck just west of the spill scene as it sat in traffic unaware of the mess left behind. The driver secured the tailgate and returned to the spill site to clean up.

A mound of road salt the width of a single lane may have been a factor in the death of musician John Morris Rankin, an internationally known Celtic musician, and member of the Rankins music group. Investigators believe Rankin swerved to avoid the salt and lost control of the truck, which plunged over a 25-metre cliff into the Atlantic Ocean near Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia.

The experts speak

Dennis Bishop, a foreman with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Highway Maintenance Station, says the switch controlling a dump truck’s end gate can be easily bumped.
“The gate release is often located next to the jake brake switch and that leads to the obvious,” Bishop said. “A small mistake on a switch and the load is dumped on the highway. Switches located between seats on consoles, or even mounted on dump levers, can also get accidently bumped. This can be done reaching for a hard hat, coffee or a snack.”

Bishop says truck drivers often continue driving for miles, unaware their load is pouring out. Some never know.

“I know of a load of cold mix that was hauled 100 miles one way and lost,” he said. “I have seen several spills that really made a mess of things. A 10-yard-dump truck is bad, but a 20-yard belly dump is even worse.”

Frank Wilson is a former truck driver now working as environmental health and safety coordinator for PolyCello Packaging. Wilson remembers two occasions when his tailgate opened.

“The first instance caused no harm. It was on a gravel road and it spread out nicely and was left at that. The second instance, a car was following and we had to replace the rad, windshield and paint the car – not so cheap. In both instances, I was hauling 3/4 clear stone. Had it been larger gravel or stone it would have been worse.”

Spills cause more than a mess
Public safety isn’t the only thing compromised when a dump truck loses all or part of its loads. Dump truck owners and employers must absorb direct and indirect costs associated with spills including:

Clean-up costs and related fines
Expenses related to the repair/replacement of damaged property, vehicles, equipment and roads
Fines, lawsuits and increased workers’ insurance costs
Time delays and lost productivity
Declining staff morale and public confidence

Possible remedies

Trucks lose their load everyday in cities throughout North America and while most incidents go unreported, others take a serious toll. Some companies deal with the issue by increasing awareness of the problem among workers. Others use a combination of training and chaining to ensure loads remain secure.

Another solution, newly available, is the Dump Box Safety System developed by Precision Endgate Safety. The recently patented system makes it impossible for drivers to “accidentally” trip the switch that opens the tailgate.

“The dump box safety system overrides the locking mechanism so a driver can’t accidentally flip the switch while reaching for coffee or changing gears,” says company president Mark Deverson.

Deverson says the tailgate will only unlock after the box rises one inch and to lift the box a driver must stop the truck, put the transmission or PTO (power take off) in neutral, and raise the box.

“So if you’re driving down the road and hit the switch nothing will happen because you haven’t raised the box.”

In Castlegar, BC, West-K Concrete owner Paul Adrian has installed the Precision Dump Box Safety System on one truck in his small fleet. He says he is pleased with the safeguard and is considering installation of the product on his other trucks.

Adrian says he considers himself lucky that no serious accidents have occurred over the years.

“We replaced a few windshields and repainted a few cars over the years,” he admits.

Visit http://www.precisionendgate.com/ for more information on the dump truck safety system.
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Anne-Rachelle McHugh
Freelance Writer & Journalist
http://www.writearm.ca/