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APM Terminals has announced that by the end of 2016 all truck drivers entering its facilities must remain within their trucks. This company-wide project is designed to eliminate one of the top five-high risks areas in terminal operations that have led to injuries.
"Potential injuries related to outside drivers, trucks, yard traffic, miscommunication and human error can be eliminated by keeping drivers inside their trucks at all times when in our terminals, and that’s the procedure we intend to have in effect at all our facilities by the end of 2016," said Jeff De Best, APM Terminals COO. "This is a bold move designed to keep our trucker clientele safe and build on our operational excellence vision. We want to be the preferred port operator to truckers worldwide – who know us for safe operations and fast turnarounds."
To achieve this, every operational process related to truckers across the APM Terminals portfolio will be analyzed using process mapping tools, traffic flow analysis, metrics and interviews with truckers. The end result will be a well-developed, clearly defined policy and procedure in place.
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The majority of incidents involving drivers occur while they are driving or waiting within the terminal yard. This area will specifically be targeted for improved safety performance, even as terminals confront the challenges of working larger vessels, in some cases involving simultaneous calls of 18,000+ TEU ships and increases in global container traffic. On an average day at APM Terminals Pier 400 Los Angeles there are 2,000 longshore workers and others on site, and over 5,000 trucks.
This project is part of a new company-wide program- that aims to eliminate - within the portfolio directly managed by APM Terminals - the five identified primary risk areas associated with 90% of fatal injuries during terminal operations: Transportation (e.g. the movement of containers or cargo within the terminal yard); Suspended Loads and Lifting; Stored Energy (electricity); Working at Heights; Control of (external) Contractors who enter the terminal. Non-terminal employees, including outside truck drivers, are often at the greatest risk of injury during port operations.
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