 I'm Mike Lawless, District Manager with the Mind, Safety and Health Administration. John Radomsky, Assistant Manager, Mind, Safety and Health Administration. The video that you are about to see is to remind you of the importance of maintaining good visibility and communication in truck haulage systems. To remind you that it's not only important for you as the truck driver to have visibility in front and back and all around your vehicle, but it's also extremely important for you to be visible to others in your work area. You're right, Mike. The limited visibility associated with today's large haulage trucks makes good communication extremely important. Some of the items that people are using include CB radios, cellular telephones, two-way radios, hand signals, horn signals, and sometimes light signals. In addition, John, good judgment and common sense as well as the posted track and control rules are all valuable aids in maintaining a safe trucking operation. Mike, I couldn't agree more. Common sense plays the most important part of truck safety. No one should ever approach a haulage truck without first making eye contact with the driver. Visibility, or more specifically, the lack of visibility, is a problem inherent in the use of off-road and highway trucks at many mining operations. You probably know about blind areas from driving your own personal car and realize that they contribute to many auto accidents. Haulage trucks also have blind areas around them, and they may vary in size. For example, as the size of trucks increase, the size of the blind areas usually increase too. If you're in a truck cab and another vehicle parks behind you, or in some area near your truck where you cannot see the other vehicle, then these areas are called blind areas. Studies have shown that the driver of a typical 150-ton haul truck cannot see a six-foot-tall person who is closer than 40 feet in front of the truck, 70 feet to the right side of the truck, or 10 feet to the left side of the truck. Only if the truck is equipped with a video camera or some other mechanical optical monitoring device would an operator be able to see a person standing directly to the rear of the truck. Visibility is usually better for highway truck drivers than for off-road truck drivers. Smaller trucks have smaller blind areas, thereby offering better driver visibility than larger trucks. However, regardless of the type or size of your truck, there are always possible blind areas large enough to conceal a person on foot or even small equipment. So be aware of smaller vehicles that may park in your truck's blind area, especially immediately in front of, behind, or on the right side of your truck. Operators of service vehicles that must be near off-road or highway trucks should follow special safety procedures and methods of communications to avoid being hit by these trucks. Service vehicles should never pull into the blind spot of a haulage truck without first notifying the haulage truck driver of this intention. Your eyes are not the only senses involved in being aware of other vehicles. Your mind also plays a major role in what you see. Sometimes, especially in repetitious kind of work, you might think you see a clear road because you've become so accustomed to seeing it many times before in the same situation or under the same condition. But in reality, what you thought or expected is not there. Therefore, the image of another vehicle does not register in your mind in a way that will cause you to react. In other words, visibility is not only dependent upon driver's physical condition, but is also mutually interdependent on their mental alertness. It does help improve mental reflexes if you are well rested at the start of your shift. So get plenty of rest. Stay alert and never operate your truck under the influence of alcohol or other drugs that can make you drowsy or inattentive. Safe haulage operation at night requires ample light. If portable lights are used, sufficient lights need to be used and carefully positioned so that equipment operators are not blinded by direct or reflected glare. Special visibility problems exist when a truck is backing up or dumping. You should not back to the dump on an angle. Always back perpendicular to the dump. Do not depend on the berm to stop you. If you can't see the berm or bumper block, never back completely to the edge. Weather and roadway conditions can severely restrict visibility. Heavy fog, rain or snow can cause driving problems especially at night. Your truck's lights, wipers and window glass should be maintained to deal with these conditions. If the weather is extremely bad, haulage operations should be reduced or stopped until conditions become clear enough for safe operation. Dust control measures must also be taken when road dust significantly reduces the visibility of equipment operators. The layout and design of roads and working areas have an impact on visibility. Curves and hill crests and roadways restrict visibility. Hall roads should be designed so that drivers can stop within the limits of their sight distance. They should also be designed to minimize blinding. If blind areas do exist, haul road speeds should be reduced for safe operation. Also, signs indicating traffic control procedures in these areas must be posted. Visibility problems can cause accidents in congested areas such as designated parking areas. Other equipment nearby can create a hazard where someone might walk out from behind the equipment just as a truck is starting out or passing by. Parking areas should be organized so that equipment and pedestrian traffic can be safely controlled. There are several key components on your truck related to visibility. The lights on a truck are not only important to help you see, but also to help others see you. Your window glass, mirrors and wipers are essential to good visibility. The backup alarm warns persons behind you that can't be seen to stay clear of the path or direction your truck is traveling. Make sure the windows are clean and free of cracks that might impair your visibility and that the wiper blades are in good working condition. Examine the exterior mirrors and mountings for damage or defects and adjust them for the best visibility. Turn on your defroster if needed and be sure it's working properly. Turn on all lights. If you find any of the devices or components that you have checked effective or not working, report them immediately and have the condition corrected. While checking your lights, look around your truck area to make sure it's clear of people and equipment. There are a number of other measures that can be taken to improve visibility. These measures include fixed or portable light plants and additional lights on the equipment itself. Additional lights are sometimes installed on the front and the rear of trucks that operate in areas of limited illumination. This can improve operator's visibility and ensure that their equipment is clearly visible to others. Other types of lighting can be added to trucks and equipment to handle special problems created by weather, traffic patterns or other conditions. Fog lights are sometimes added at mine sites where heavy fog problems are coming. Strobe lights are particularly effective for making small vehicles more visible to operators of larger equipment. Also, red flags attached to long, flexible rods or whip antennas are sometimes used to make small vehicles more visible. Addition or modification of mirrors can sometimes help improve driver's visibility. This includes both rear view mirrors on mobile equipment and stationary mirrors. Stationary mirrors can be mounted at intersections, shop doors or at other areas of restricted visibility. In some cases, convex mirrors are best because they provide a wider field of vision. However, convex mirrors sometimes distort depth perception, making the image appear smaller or farther away than it really is. So personnel must be cautioned to be aware of this distortion effect. Convex mirrors are best used in combination with flat mirrors. This combination provides the driver with a wider view in the convex mirror and a truer distance and depth perception in the flat mirror. Oversized flat mirrors can also be mounted on trucks to enlarge the driver's field of view. More elaborate visibility enhancements, including closed circuit television, are also available at some operations. Backup alarms play an important part in safe haulage operations. But because of the almost constant sounds of these alarms at some work sites, miners may not consciously pay attention to them. This situation is sometimes corrected with the use of a discriminating alarm system, one that senses the presence of obstructions, equipment or people behind the truck. When a haulage truck equipped with this type of backup alarm is put in reverse, the outside alarm sounds briefly, providing an initial warning to anyone in the area. And at the same time, a visual and audible alarm is activated in the operator's compartment, letting the operator know that the alarm system is working. The discriminating alarm will not continue to sound unless there is movement by the truck or the object, and it remains in the sensing area. The alarm will reactivate whenever something or someone is detected in the sensor range behind the vehicle. In addition to warning people in the area, these systems may warn the truck operator in time to stop. Because of the restricted visibility on heavy equipment, good communications with these operators is vital. If your job requires that you approach heavy equipment, be sure you communicate your intentions clearly to the operator. Don't approach the equipment until the operator acknowledges your message and gives you the okay. CB and two-way radios are effective and commonly used for communicating with equipment operators. Cellular telephones are also becoming more common around lives. One of the important benefits of these phones is that they provide direct communications when emergency assistance is needed. If radio or other voice communications are not available, established hand signals must be used. Again, be sure the operator understands and acknowledges your signal before proceeding. Hazards are also increased whenever there are other people working on or around the vehicle, because there is a greater chance of miscommunication. Sounds are horned before starting your engine or placing any part of the vehicle in motion. Be aware that certain hydraulic and pneumatic circuits remain pressurized after the engine is shut off. Inform those nearby of any possible hazards from these pressurized circuits. And be sure everyone is accounted for and in the clear before you move your vehicle. Other means of communications are posted signs and rules. These rules and signs indicate traffic patterns, speed limits, areas of restricted visibility and other safety information. Signs need to be legible, properly placed and maintained. It is also very important that signs be kept up to date as roadways and conditions change. And this information must be communicated to everyone who could be affected by it. Safety in truck haulage operations depends a lot upon understanding blind areas and communications. So do your part to ensure that you have good visibility and that you are visible to others. And know and use the methods of communication established at your mind so that you can be seen and heard for a long time to come. You know truck haulage is the backbone of our mining industry. It's what gets the material from where we find it to where we process it to where we eventually use it in the industry. And it's also one of our biggest liabilities in this present day and age. They are always encouraged before leaving from a parked position or before even getting in their trucks to, even if they've taken a break or gotten out for any reason at all to do a complete walk around that truck to be sure that no smaller vehicles have parked in their blind spots. You've got to constantly be aware of where you are and who's approaching you. Be aware of people walking up to the machine where we're supposed to, if someone was on the ground wanting to notify a truck driver, we're supposed to maintain a good safe distance where he is outside the blind area before he even gets close to the vehicle. I'm not going to risk getting in front of that truck, but I'm looking for eye contact, get close enough to where I've got eye contact with him. And as soon as he sees me do that, then I can recognize that he's got the signal. And then I know he's going to stop. Sometimes fog creates a little visibility problem, but we accommodate that by slowing everything down and making sure it's not too foggy to operate. If it is, we just wait until the fog lifts, that's all you can do. We've got CBs in all of our mobile equipment. Most of them communicate with each other along those lines with the CBs. Horns are used, especially by the loader operators or the dozer operators, signaling the truck drivers. Part of our training, we're emphasizing extreme hazardous conditions such as fog and possibly snow or sleet, although we shouldn't be on the road, that reduces speed, reduces speed when in doubt. If it gets foggy enough and gets to where the visibility is impaired, then we do run our lights. And if it gets so bad that the visibility is going to put you in a dangerous situation, then we'll just park the truck. We use signs in as many areas as it's feasible. There's such a thing as over-signing where people get too used to too many signals, but we use them where we feel there are dangers. We want to make each of the operators aware of things that they may not be thinking about on a minute-to-minute basis while operating, and many times those signs will bring that thought around that things can happen to them. If I were to give advice to a new truck driver, I would tend to be aware of the limitations of the piece of equipment that he's operating. Always wear a seatbelt. And remember, every time he steps into that cab, he's going to be making some judgments in the operation of that equipment that could save his own life or the life of someone else.