Weighing up health & safety
June 1st 2006

Transport operators who inadvertently overload their vehicles are taking an unnecessary risk. Easy to use solutions, based on forklift truck scales, can remove the risk and potentially increase revenues, argues Raxa Chauhan, product manager at Avery Weigh-Tronix

With escalating fuel costs, road tax, congestion charges and motorway tolls, the cost of transporting loads between locations is increasing. At the same time, most companies are looking to reduce their operating costs, so are reluctant to accept any price increases from either their inhouse fleet or external hauliers. In this environment, measuring and weighing the load accurately is more essential than ever.

If an operator under loads its vehicles, it is either running its fleet inefficiently or losing the opportunity to invoice the customer more revenue. Alternatively, it may be overloading vehicles unknowingly.

Overloading a vehicle is a high-risk strategy for any vehicle operator. First and foremost, it is a serious breach of health and safety legislation, which makes it clear that loads must be evenly and safely spread across the axles. Fines for overloading are up to £5000 per vehicle or axle.

Escalating costs

If overloading leads to an accident, the costs will escalate. Insurers may reject the claim, the police may prosecute and there are the costs of site cleanup, compensation for any lost or damaged stock, as well long term damage to the reputation.

The risks of getting caught are also increasing. VOSA has been trialling weigh in motion sensors (WIMS) with automatic number plate recognition technology. This in-road system has proved very successful in identifying overloaded vehicles in test installations and several more sensors will be installed over the next two years.

The arguments for accurately weighing pallets before loading are now compelling.

Even so, most operators still rely on estimating pallet weights because, they argue, it is too time consuming and inefficient to weigh each pallet.

This is usually because they are thinking about weighing on a fixed floor scale, so each pallet goes through a four step process: a fork lift truck picks and transfers a pallet to a floor scale; the pallet is unloaded onto the scale; the pallet is weighed; the truck picks up the pallet and loads it onto the vehicle.

A much simpler and faster solution available using a forklift truck scale. These systems transform forklift trucks into mobile weighing scales, so a pallet can be picked, weighed and loaded in one seamless process. Best in class forklift truck scales transmit load data directly into the transport management information system, so that the total vehicle load is easily calculated and the data used for accurate invoicing or internal re-charging.

At Avery Weigh-Tronix forklift truck scales come in a range of widths to fit most classes of forklift truck. Patented Weigh Bar weight sensors and out-of-level compensation delivers accurate readings even when fork positions change; when wheels are on uneven surfaces; or if the mast is tilted.

The scale information display can guide the driver through the loading process to ensure safe weight distribution of pallets onto trailers or warehouse shelving. Printed proof of due diligence proves that a vehicle is fit to travel in the event of a spot check.

The data management option provides a simple and efficient solution for capturing, integrating and managing weight data within their management systems.

Communications options include Ethernet, radio frequency transmission and infra-red.

Accurate weighing

A typical example of the benefits of deploying fork lift truck scales can be seen at PalletFORCE, where accurate weighing is vital to ensure the safe placement of pallets aboard the double deck trailers commonly used by its members. Poor weight distribution can make these trailers more prone to rollovers.

With 5500 pallets coming through the hub nightly, speed is as important as accuracy. Using the Avery Weigh-Tronix system, accurate weight information is available in seconds, so vehicle turnaround is not compromised.

Each forklift truck is fitted with an intelligent indicator and thermal printer linked to the scales. The indicator provides data that is used to measure efficiency and provides a customised printout including the weight and location of all pallets aboard the trailer, which helps to simplify roadside checks and makes it easier to identify the correct pallet for unloading.

Key to the specification from PalletFORCE was durability, as the scales had to withstand the arduous environment at the hub. The system is also tough enough to maintain efficiency over an extended operating lifecycle.

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