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With winter now upon us, Truckers travelling in or through New Jersey are required to clear all snow and/or ice from the tops of their trucks and trailers. There are some places in N.J. that have built equipment to accomplish this feat, but if a driver is not near a facility with snow clearing equipment, he or she is by law required to climb on top of the trailer and clear the snow manually. How this daredevil act is to be accomplished is anyones guess. Most 'van' type trailers are not equipped with a ladder of any kind, and once on top there is no way to attach a safety line or harness to keep the driver from slipping or falling 13'6" to the ground.
I am told that other states want to adopt similar laws. How may drivers this winter will fall and be gravely injured or killed by a law which was pushed through by bureaucrats who have no concept of the impact of the laws they force on truckers?
Whe a trucker falls off of his trailer this winter while trying to obey the letter of the law, the state of New Jersey and it's Law Makers should be held accountable to that drivers' family and support that family when the breadwinner is permanently disabled or killed.
Recently all kinds of laws have been passed nationwide to keep the motoring public safe from truckers. Dones no one care about the safety of the truck drivers themselves?
We have laws prohibiting truckers from having climate control in the sleeper while parked in extreme heat/cold. We have forced truckers to park in unsafe areas by closing rest areas and prohibiting truck parking in many industrial areas (see Jason's Law).
Now we want truckers to climb on top of their trailers covered with ice and snow!!!
Where is OSHA in all this? Again they are ignoring the trucking industry as usual. In any other industry, OSHO would require safety harnesses, safety lines, nets or other safety equipment before climbing to those heights under ANY conditions.
See a satirical comment from Reed Black at Landlinenow
http://www.landlinenow.com/2009/07/winter-olympics.shtml
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