SPOA tackles bridge safety
21 November 2023
The Scottish Plant Owners Association (SPOA) is co-ordinating the production of comprehensive industry guidance on bridge strike avoidance when transporting plant and equipment.
The move follows an industry summit hosted by the association this month which brought together key representatives from industry and transport bodies in Scotland.
Network Rail, Transport Scotland and Police Scotland joined the SPOA and member companies AB2K, Blackwood Plant Hire, GAP Group and WH Malcolm, alongside QBE Insurance Group and loss adjuster Sedgwick for an open discussion on mitigating the risk of bridge strikes involving HGVs delivering plant and equipment.
The meeting followed a bridge strike incident on the A90 at Glencarse (pictured), situated between Dundee and Perth, earlier in the year. There were no injuries, but traffic restrictions are still in place until the necessary structural repairs are completed.
Iain Ferguson, Bridge Manager South West, Roads Directorate at Transport Scotland, said: “Transport Scotland has been working alongside our partners to raise awareness of the consequence of bridges strikes and to minimise their occurrence for a number of years.
“Recent events such as the bridge strike at St Madoes [Glencarse], which involved an excavator being transported on a low loader, have confirmed that further work is needed to protect the travelling public. This is why we are grateful that the SPOA is creating specific guidance for the transporters of construction plant and we are pleased to offer our full support to this initiative.”
SPOA member company, GAP Group, has already implemented protocols and training initiatives aimed at preventing bridge strikes. Mark Anderson, Managing Director North at GAP Group, shared the company’s approach at the meeting and Sedgwick also outlined the factors that are reviewed during a claim.
The summit revealed various concerns regarding the transportation of plant and equipment by HGVs. 43% of lorry drivers admitted to not measuring their vehicle before heading out onto the roads and 52% said they did not take low railway bridges into account, according to research conducted by Network Rail.
The meeting also noted that the diverse nature of loads transported by the plant sector result in many being non-notifiable or qualifying as abnormal, and that Network Rail records five bridge strikes per day.
Transport Scotland confirmed that 50% of recorded bridge and structure strikes in 2023 involved plant movement on low loaders, and the overall feeling was that the lack of a specific best practice guide increases the risk.
The meeting agreed that the SPOA should spearhead industry collaboration in developing best practices, and the initiative will be led by GAP’s Mark Anderson, an Executive Committee member and a former president of the SPOA.
Mark said: “The impact of a bridge strike by an HGV is absolutely devastating and, in some instances, fatal. Comprehensive guidance and proactive measures to avoid bridge strikes are long overdue.
“I feel strongly that the SPOA has a responsibility to its members, and indeed to the transport bodies in Scotland, to highlight this issue and take the lead in advancing this initiative. I would urge members and all businesses that transport plant and equipment with HGVs to continually check procedural compliance and encourage drivers to understand the importance of load heights.”
Work will now start to produce a draft guide which will then be shared and further developed by the organisations attending the summit and by other relevant stakeholders.
