Product category:
Machine Safety Components
News Release from: Spillard Safety Systems | Subject: Seat belts
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 22 March 2001
Your seat belt will save your life
Spillard Safety Systems claims that 10% of accidents in quarries result from vehicles overturning.
Spillard Safety Systems claims that 10% of accidents in quarries result from vehicles overturning The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 requires that seat belts or equivalent devices be fitted to vehicles with roll over protection standard (ROPS) cabs, i.e machines of over 15 kW power They must be fitted to tracked or wheel loaders, fork lift trucks, backhoe loaders, tracked or wheeled dozers, scrapers, graders, articulated and rigid dumptrucks
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 22 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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To ensure that they are worn; provide a comfortable belt that adjusts with both the movement of the driver and the motion of the seat.
Cabs and belts should be kept clean and OPERATORS should carry out regular checks of their condition.
Not only could a defect lead to a prohibition but also it will seriously jeopardise the safety of your passengers.
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Belts can become damaged at any stage of the vehicle's life and a small 4 mm cut or a hole the size of a shirt button in a seatbelt may reduce its strength by a staggering 70%.
Under no circumstances, should used or second-hand belts be fitted.
In an accident the belt absorbs some of the enormous energies by stretching.
Even at just 30mph the rapid deceleration is equivalent to hurling an adult seatbelt wearer against the belt with a weight equivalent to a three-tonne elephant.
This can cause the belt to permanently stretch by up to 13%.
Next time round it would not absorb the same energy in an impact and that could mean - the difference between life and death.
The areas to check on the automatic seatbelts are the seatbelt webbing, the buckles and the retractors.
Wear and tear or abuse can affect all these parts.
SSS suggests these should be checked for the following signs: * Webbing with frayed edges caused by general wear and tear * Webbing with nicks, cuts or holes caused by abuse * Buckles which don't lock securely or have become worn out due to wear and tear * Buckles that have been damaged by being caught, stamped on, or have had items such as sweets and chewing gum pushed into them * Retractor mechanisms which don't fully retract the belt or lock the belt securely into position In any of the above circumstances the belts should be replaced.
SSS who specialise in the retro fitting of seat restraint systems can offer many alternatives to the standard auto type lapbelt.
These include the SP500 - a standard inertia type belt working on the same principle as a car seat belt; wearers have complete movement until a problem arises resulting in the inertia locking, holding the wearer firmly in his seat.
The inertia type lapbelt provides both comfort and safety for the wearer.
SP500E Electronic Lapbelt - a standard inertia type belt utilising an electronic micro switch, when connected to the clasp it can switch off either a visual or audible warning device or both.
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