Fuel tankers 'mobile bombs', says union

Deborah Gough
February 4, 2014
The Age
Fuel tankers are “mobile bombs”, with a quarter of drivers saying they felt pressured to speed and half saying they skipped rest breaks, the Transport Workers Union has said.
A survey of 90 drivers in the eastern states found that about one-third are pushed to falsify logbooks.
The union released the survey on Tuesday as it lodged a national dispute with the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal over safety issues in the oil, fuel and gas industries.
The union’s national secretary, Tony Sheldon, said drivers were forced to speed, skip rest breaks and fake their logbooks “just to keep jobs”.
“Petrol tankers are literally mobile bombs,” Mr Sheldon said.
“They’re at the most dangerous end of Australia’s most dangerous industry.”
Mr Sheldon pointed to crashes at Bateman’s Bay, in 2009, and Mona Vale, in Sydney, in 2013 as examples of the consequences of drivers driving too fast and for too long.
The Mona Vale crash led to a safety check blitz in Victoria and NSW, with authorities issuing trucking giant Cootes Transport with hundreds of defect notices. Two people were killed and five injured in the crash.
The driver survey listed ineffective brakes, oil and fuel leaks, steering, axle, suspension and exhaust failures, broken engine mounts and tread peeling from tyres among the defects.
Mr Sheldon said a third of drivers reported they had been threatened with dismissal if they reported serious safety flaws.
The survey also found 45 per cent of drivers said employers routinely delayed brake maintenance. One driver said his tanker was 13,000 kilometres overdue for servicing. Another driver said trucks he drove were routinely 2000 to 5000 kilometres overdue for brake repairs.
The TWU is seeking binding federal orders through the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal to improve road safety. Its claim will concentrate on holding clients accountable for skipped safety checks and for setting what Mr Sheldon described as “impossibly low” pay rates and delivery times.
“Major petrol clients like Coles need to learn that road safety is not red tape,” Mr Sheldon said.
The tribunal was set up in 2012 to look at pressures on drivers to drive unsafely. It can issue binding orders on the industry to lift safety standards.
Mr Sheldon said the truck driving industry was the nation’s most dangerous. He said the fatality rate was 15 times higher than the national average for other jobs. He said about 330 people were killed each year in truck-related crashes.
Fairfax Media contacted Coles for a response.
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