APM Terminals (APMT) has announced a new ‘Truck Safety Programme’, featuring carefully researched and tested standard operating procedures for outside truck drivers delivering or picking up containers will be put into effect by the end of 2016 throughout the company’s Global Terminal Network.
Kevin Furniss, Vice President for Health, Safety, Security & Environment at APMT, said: “Our goal is to ensure we have safe operations. The basic concept here is to eliminate the risk of accident or injury to the thousands of truck drivers who enter our facilities daily by strictly enforcing a “Stay in the Cab” mandate for external truckers, with clearly identified Designated Safe Zones in non-operational areas specified for those occasions when leaving the truck is necessary.
“This program reflects the tremendous team work from various terminal functions collaborating to develop a systematic approach to Safety.”
Technical Paper: Addressing Container Yard Safety
A pilot program at APMT facilities in Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Callao (Peru), and Apapa (Nigeria), including 100 hours of safety observations and 160 identified risk situations was performed and the data analysed to review existing procedures and risks.
Reasons for drivers leaving their truck cabs, and thus increasing the risk of accidents with container handling equipment or other trucks, included document handling, looking for containers, asking for directions, inspecting chassis, guiding equipment operators, and securing loads while in the yard.
Implementation of the program, now underway, requires all APMT facilities to provide specially designated, physically protected areas for drivers conducting required operational activities outside of their truck cabs, by the end of the year, and offer safety instructions specific to each facility’s layout and traffic flow.
Jack Craig, Vice President and Global Head of Operations, said: “What the project really does is to put in place much more structure and with specifics regarding expectations; this is a call to action.”
In other news, APMT has graduated another 19 competitively selected managers from across the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network from the MAGNUM accelerated leadership training program at a formal ceremony in The Hague
