An estimated 2,000 road and railway bridge strikes occur each year in Scotland and last year 80% of them involved plant movement on low loaders.
These statistics prompted the Scottish Plant Owners Association (SPOA) to take action and produce a best practice guide to bridge strike avoidance.
The guide has been written in collaboration with Network Rail, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland, QBE Insurance, Sedgwick, AB2K, Blackwood Plant Hire, Currie Contractors, GAP Group, Highland Hammer Hire, Jarvie Plant and Malcolm Group. It follows an industry summit hosted by the SPOA in 2023.
GAP group managing director Mark Anderson, the member of the SPOA executive committee who led on this initiative, said: “Due to the nature of our industry our load heights are constantly changing, sometimes multiple times each day. Whilst best practice guides have been developed by other freight and passenger transport industry partners, these are designed to raise generic awareness for professional drivers and managers of transport companies about the risks and consequences of bridge strikes and provide guidance on how they can be prevented.”
The guide is available for free online, here.
