A driver stopped his garbage truck in front of a refuse bin. He pulled back on the brake lever to apply the spring
parking brake. The driver exited the truck and went in front to unlock the refuse bin. But the parking brake
had not been locked in and it released. The truck then rolled down the 5 percent slope. The driver was crushed
between the bin and the truck, receiving fatal injuries.
This parking brake has a European Wabco valve. Unlike North
American—style brakes, the hand brake is also used
as a service brake to slow down the truck. To apply the
parking brake, the driver pulls back on a spring-loaded
lever. However, if the driver lets go of the lever before
it locks in, the lever will spring back and release the
brakes. The brakes may hold for a few seconds, but the truck
could start to roll on even a slight slope.
With this kind of brake, the dashboard "P" lights
up whenever the brake is in use, either to slow down or
park the truck. The illuminated dash light may give the
driver the false impression that the brake lever is locked
in when in fact it is not.
These safe work practices are for properly applying parking
brakes with European Wabco valves. (WorkSafeBC is aware of only
the Mack Midliner truck with a Renault chassis that has this
kind of parking valve in North America.)
- Apply the parking brake using a two-step procedure:
1. Pull up on the spring-loaded collar while pulling the
lever all the way back.
2. Release the collar on the lever to
allow the spring inside the collar to lock the lever into
position.
-
Train workers to follow a safe work
procedure for setting the brakes and checking that the
lever is locked in.
-
Make sure that the drivers who operate
different types of trucks know how to properly apply
the parking brakes for each type. If you do not want
drivers to adapt to different parking brake procedures
in different trucks, replace the European brake valves
with the standard North American kind.
