Fitting of pneumatic power kits to existing tanker access stairs

Company: West Yorkshire Trading Standards
Industry: Professional Services
Site: West Yorkshire, UK

Overview

West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS) offer a road tanker calibration service for oil and petroleum tankers. They recently took over the management of the site which carries out the calibration. Following an operations Health and Safety review, where two main issues were highlighted.

Firstly, an existing set of regularly operated heavy folding stairs, used to safely access tankers, were causing manual handling strain issues for the operator. Secondly, the method of safely accessing the tops of the road tankers was deemed unsafe.

WYTS asked IFC Inflow to come up with a solution to both issues. The challenge was to come up with a solution to accommodate every conceivable size of a tanker and provide safe access across the length of the tanker body, whilst also taking into account the site’s height restrictions.

IFC’s Solution

The manual handling issue was easily dealt with by fitting one of our pneumatic power kits to the existing tanker access stairs. The kit is designed specifically to alleviate the strain impact of manually lifting the folding stairs. It uses on-site compressed air to power a cylinder to the lifting and lowering of the stairs. The system comes with a control panel mounted at the top of the stairs with a simple, easy to use up/down lever control.

The tanker access issue was solved by the supply of 3-step and 5-step folding stair units, both mounted to an existing sliding gantry that moved along the length of the tankers. The Flow Step stairs were supplied with purpose-built elongated safety cages, designed to fit within the confines of the access bay.

The rigid cages were also fitted with wire netting and special panels for added safety. The 5-step stairs were also fitted with a pneumatic power kit with a dual control panel to allow operation of the stairs whilst on the tanker. IFC was also tasked with commissioning the system once it had been installed.

Project Outcome

All the equipment was supplied within the client’s time frame and to the original budget. IFC successfully commissioned the system on-site and it is now in operation providing a safe and easy to operate tanker access system for West Yorkshire Trading Standards to safely access tankers.

Steve Kaye, Principal Officer at West Yorkshire Trading Standards was impressed with IFC’s delivery of the package and commented

“We recently took over ownership of the tanker calibration bay and identified a number of safety issues to safely access tankers, which needed to be addressed. Safer access to the top of the tankers from the existing gantry was a priority and we approached IFC for a solution. Their answer gave us the range of movement required to accommodate all sizes of tanker. The folding steps, along with the purpose built safety cages and pneumatic controls, have created a much safer working environment. We are very pleased with the result”.