Auto tipping skip reduces accidents

Businesses looking to take advantage of commercial waste incentive programmes may be creating conditions that endanger their employees, according to leading forks and attachment specialists, Invicta.

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.” (the pictures at the bottom of this story illustrate how dangerous this inappropriate practice can be)

Invicta has been involved in the manufacture and supply of tipping skips for over 20 years and has developed various skip options, including a unique ‘4 way entry’ base, bottom emptying skip and is said to be the first to design and manufacture an auto-tipping version.

{EMBED(623163)}

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.”

Now the auto-tip function is available as a bolt-on item to the standard tipping skip, allowing customers to upgrade as their business grows.

Says Peter: “At its inception a decade ago, the auto-tipping mechanism was a specific model, and welded in place. Today, as manufacturing procedures have developed and customers have seen the value of the feature, we are able to bolt it on to our standard skip range. It means customers can still add it at a later date, even if they currently don’t have the need for the high level tipping function.”