Truckies are at risk of serious injury unless farmers and landowners fix their second-rate livestock loading ramps, says SA feedlot owner and transporter Alex McGorman.
McGorman is so incensed by what he sees as lax standards among some ramp owners around Australia that he’s launched a Facebook group in the hope it will motivate the offenders into taking action.
In just over six months, McGorman’s ‘Crap Loading Ramps Australia’ platform has gathered more than 18,500 followers, who share shots of Australia’s work, health and safety nightmares.
“People want to say what I’ve said, but are a bit scared to,” said McGorman who also runs seven trucks of various configurations around running a feedlot and cropping program at Sanderston, SA.
“I’m a truckie but we cart our own stuff – probably cart a quarter of a million sheep a year, in and out, but they’re all ours so if I piss a few people off, it’s no real drama.”
McGorman says he has no beef with the station guys – “they’ve been good for years” – but the southern farmers are a whole different breed.
“They don’t really appreciate what truck drivers do.”
McGorman says the final straw that triggered his Facebook campaign came after a typically testing day behind the wheel while loading livestock in South Australia.
“One farmer wasn’t even there and I had to cut a fence to even get in, and another farmer was holding up his ramp by a tractor and a ratchet strap and that could have ended up in tears real easy.
“I’ve had a few pretty tough days over there.”
He believes the problem has been exacerbated by some operators not speaking up about the safety issues because they’re afraid to lose the work.
McGorman, who has more than his share of bumps and bruises from coming off second best with sketchy ramps, says the issue has got so bad, it’s impacting driver recruitment.
“I’ve got drivers who have given up because it’s too hard. People just need to do the right thing. It doesn’t have to be about money. It’s just about making it easier to get in and out, to fix up a ramp, that sort of thing.”
McGorman appreciates that some farmers are only out-loading a couple of times a year so the ramps and loading areas aren’t a priority, but says they need to appreciate that the driver could be doing the same role four or five times that day.
The message is already getting through, it seems.
McGowan says he knows of at least one farmer who was spurred on to fix his ramp before pictures of his old set-up ended up on the Facebook group.
“Sometimes people just need a bit of a kick in the arse to realise what problems they’ve got.
“There’s no naming anyone, it’s just all about getting the job easier for truckies and safer for the sheep and cattle.”
McGorman, a member of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of SA, says there is an Australian Standard publication called Livestock loading/unloading ramps and forcing pens.
But believes it’s overpriced at $144 for a hard copy when most of what is required are just common-sense fixes.
“There’s no rocket science about ramps. They just need to be safe. You need to get your truck in and out, you need to not get bogged – it’s all just logic, it doesn’t need a Code of Practice.
“We just need truckies to say no, I won’t work from these facilities.”
Athol Carter, Regional Manager for Frasers Livestock Transport in Central Queensland, and Vice Chair of TruckSafe and Vice President of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA), concedes there are issues with the quality and safety of loading ramps at some properties around Australia.
That’s why the ALRTA first conceived The Ramp Standard in 2015, along with help from other livestock bodies around Australia, which Standards Australia converted into a national industry standard in 2020.
“A loading ramp is your income, basically. The livestock don’t walk themselves to market,” Carter said.
“There are a lot of good ramps out there but there are also a lot of crappy ramps out there that are doing big volumes and are dangerous to the men and women using them, and the livestock.
“People need to be doing their research when they’re replacing and rebuilding ramps and buying a ramp from a reputable manufacturer, or if you’re designing and building your own that it meets certain minimum safety requirements.”
Graeme Hoare, the Chair of the ALRTA’s Driver and Animal Welfare Committee, says a lot of work was done in developing The Ramp Standard following a fatal ramp incident in Victoria.
“The ALRTA with quite a number of people right across the country got together to build this and got it switched over to a standard so it’s got a bit of punch with the authorities,” Hoare said.
“As an industry, we’ve done everything we possibly can so it’s back into all other parties in the chain to work to get the loading ramps up to scratch.”
yes it costs money to do repairs and maintenance but wait till you see the cost of a accident.
say you have a ramp that fails while loading and there was 5 steers on the ramp when it fails they all get injured and have to be euthanised so you have that cost but also your out what ever revenue they would have earned at market. and you might have seriously injured or even dead workers.
dont they realise this