[AuRavelling79]

The subject of death/injury by shifting water tanks in the back of vans interested me.

Is there anywhere on line that I might find an example of this?

I did find the death of a driver in his lorry cab when 25 tonnes of completely unsecured steel shifted forwards and killed him when he braked hard for a roundabout and it says that it was company practice not to secure such loads as it was thought that the weight/friction alone would stop it moving and that lorries had been carrying this kind of load in a continuous manner for 9 months from this plant with no other incident.

But as to van drivers being crushed by unsecure loads it seems difficult to find.

[paul saunders]

It might be hard to find any info because it might mot have hapened before. 

[AuRavelling79]

It might be hard to find any info because it might mot have hapened before. 

I wondered/hoped that might be the case.

[Ste M]

The subject of death/injury by shifting water tanks in the back of vans interested me.

Is there anywhere on line that I might find an example of this?

I did find the death of a driver in his lorry cab when 25 tonnes of completely unsecured steel shifted forwards and killed him when he braked hard for a roundabout and it says that it was company practice not to secure such loads as it was thought that the weight/friction alone would stop it moving and that lorries had been carrying this kind of load in a continuous manner for 9 months from this plant with no other incident.

But as to van drivers being crushed by unsecure loads it seems difficult to find.

gold, you know that accident you describe there, did you actually seee it in real life or read it on line? i only ask as i have seen one very such accident down the road from me, horrible sight, the steel had actually knocked the cab forward and the force of it crushed the cab with the driver in it

[Moderator David@stives]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/loadsafety/load-shifts-forward.htm

[pureh20]

i don't mean to open a can of worms by mentioning this, but on the ionic crash test, the unsecured load flew forward and smashed into the drivers seat breaking his seat belt. Worth looking at the video and write up at least.

[Moderator David@stives]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/safetyloadsonvehicles.pdf

[windowinfo]

  Take a look on the ionics web site for the test video......... frightening stuff!!

[AuRavelling79]

That picture looks like the one described. So up against the bulkhead which should be strong enough seems to be the name of the game. And for water tanks - plus baffling and securing properly.

[ftp]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/safetyloadsonvehicles.pdf

Interesting section on strapping loads in there. Scare yourself silly reading all that.
I have straps but at the wrong angles totally.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

The interesting thing about the ionics system is that it will wreck the vans chassis although the crash will probably wreck the van anyway.  I think one reason why a container needs to be secured is because the water moves within it even if it is baffled.  So the force of stopping plus the force of water accelerating within the tank could cause an unsecured or poorly secured load to go through the bulkhead.

I think a better idea would be to have a tank that disintegrates when these kinds of forces are applied, at least then you won't have damaged your chassis and the van may be salvageable, the resulting spillage may even put out some flames.

I had heard of a lady driving to Glasgow who had a van loaded to the hilt with kitchen work tops, she came to an abrupt halt and a load went through the windscreen above her head, some also managed to fall out the back door as well.

Simon.

[Gleaming windows]

I had heard of a lady driving to Glasgow..............some also managed to fall out the back door as well.

I bet they made it onto e-bay pretty sharpish 

[Ste M]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/loadsafety/load-shifts-forward.htm

is that not just a foreign lorry driver smoking a rather large 'funny' cigerette?

[Sir Squeaky]

That picture looks like the one described. So up against the bulkhead which should be strong enough seems to be the name of the game. And for water tanks - plus baffling and securing properly.

Exactly what I said.
Up against the bulkhead it's got zero momentum.

[dai]

I think a better idea would be to have a tank that disintegrates when these kinds of forces are applied, at least then you won't have damaged your chassis and the van may be salvageable, the resulting spillage may even put out some flames.

mon.

Now that is a good idea. It wouldn't have to disintegrate, just design a tank with a weak point at the front, then if it's secured correctly only the front of the tank breaks off on impact.