Middle East Bound and Down

By LARRY HOFFMANFebruary 4, 2011

In the safety world, when the phone rings, it's either the colonel telling us to have a nice weekend, an employee calling to ask a question about personal protective equipment and safety, or an accident has occurred. With just minutes remaining in our work week, we prepared for the worst.

On the other end of the line was our weapons shipping manager, who was in control of every truck and train that carried weapons on and off the depot. He was calling to let the safety office know there had been an accident. I wrote down the "who, what and where" and told him we would be there in a few minutes.

The accident involved a big rig that was hauling a Strad-O-Lift trailer. These driver-controlled lift trailers are a way of life on Army depots, allowing stacked pallets of weapons and supplies to be moved each day from bunkers and warehouses. Occasionally, like any other vehicle, there are accidents that make you wonder, "What was that driver thinking'" This would be one of those accidents.

The truck was lying on its side in a ditch just outside one of the igloos (underground weapons bunkers) where workers had been loading and unloading weapons for processing to the maintenace facility. Immediately there were two things that truly scared me about this accident: one, the truck wasn't on the road; and two, the truck was fully loaded with high-explosive weapons. I started my report by taking photos of the area and truck and measuring all the distances from truck to road, truck to igloo and the depth of the ditch the truck was now lying in. I then wrote out my draft report about what happened, took down the names and statements of all witnesses and interviewed the driver.

The driver stated that as he backed up, he lost track of where the ditch was on the right side of the road. The next thing he knew, he had overturned into the ditch. As I listened to him, I thought, "There are pieces missing from this puzzle." First, he did not have the required ground guide. Second, it was evident he was in a hurry because he was off work the following day. Finally, he wasn't very cautious with the load he was carrying.

As I drove back to the office to finally punch out, I thought about all the truckloads of weapons being moved at the depot each day. It occurred to me that none of the drivers actually have ground guides, nor have they requested anyone to help guide them. Using a ground guide would likely have prevented this accident.

When hauling any trailer with a big rig, keep the following in mind:

Aca,!Ac If you take a curve too fast, you can overturn.

Aca,!Ac If your rear tires strike something (like a curb) while cornering, you can overturn - even if you're moving slowly.

Aca,!Ac A rig can roll at speeds as low as 5 mph, especially on slopes.

Aca,!Ac A rig can roll if you jackknife while backing up.

Aca,!Ac Many rollovers occur when drivers try to return to the road after putting a tire off the pavement.

Aca,!Ac Treat all cargo like a load of dynamite and drive accordingly.

These trucks are not all-terrain vehicles. When you take them offroad, the results could be disasterous.