Auto tipping skip reduces accidents

The use of roll-on roll-off skips, up to 36.5 metres in length and 2.5 metres high, means operators are routinely working at height in unsafe conditions, increasing the risk of falls.

Invicta managing director, Peter Sharpe, explains: “Most skips carried by forklifts require a forward tipping action to unload, but the height and design of these super-sized skips often sees operators standing on mud guards or climbing the side of the yard skip to reach the release mechanism.”

Invicta has developed a ‘4 way entry’ base, bottom emptying skip and is said to be the first to design and manufacture an auto-tipping version.

The mechanism ‘unlocks’ the tipping action when the base is lowered to the edge of the receiving skip, with a secondary locking mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. A combination of gravity and truck movement returns the attachment to its original position.

“We’ve designed the auto-tip mechanism to eliminate the need to get out of the cab,” adds Peter. “Operators have immediately seen its potential, allowing them to get on with their work and not exit the cab, which the safest place for them. The option is now a standard feature on our tipping skip range. Manual release mechanisms will always be required, but the option of the auto-tip function improves efficiency as well as adding safety.”

In June 2015, a Chichester company specialising in the recycling of waste plastic was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,043 following a worker’s fall of 2.5 metres from the top of a large roll on roll-off waste skip while manually tipping out non-recyclable waste plastic from a tonne bulk bag.