Following two recent incidents where employees have been struck by the closing rear door (tailgate) of front loading rubbish trucks, WorkSafe reminds those involved in the waste management industry of the risk of serious injury to persons working near rubbish trucks when they are opening and closing their rear doors.
In both situations a person, other than the driver of the truck, was cleaning the back seal of the tailgate or working at the back of the truck when the tailgate was in the raised position. It was also identified that safety props were not used when persons were working under the tailgate of the truck and the closing time of the rear doors of the trucks was less than 20 seconds.
This Alert contains safety information following inquiries made by WorkSafe about an incident or unsafe practice. The information contained in this Alert does not necessarily include the outcome of WorkSafe’s action with respect to an incident. WorkSafe does not warrant the information in this Alert is complete or up to date and does not accept any liability to any person for the information in this report or as to its use.