Thread: Local lad killed by towball

As I read it the report mentioned a "towing Hook".

Now I don't know the details, obviously, but here are a few thoughts:

Sale of snatch straps

A snatch strap is a very lethal weapon, lethal weapons are generally controlled or licensed.........
Perhaps for every snatch strap sold there should be an explicit set of instructions to be read prior to purchase and signed off by the purchaser?
Perhaps for every snatch strap sold there should be a mandatory lesson in the usage of such
Perhaps a certificate of compliance with those or similar conditions to be held by the user of a snatch strap would be sufficient within a group to provide confidence in the person in charge of a recovery.
Perhaps every snatch strap is tagged with a message "DANGER Only to be used with certified recovery points"

Tow Balls

Perhaps every 4WD towbar is etched with the message " DANGER Under no circumstances is a towball to be used as an anchor point for recovery" or a similar message


Front Bars

I am not sure but I would suspect that there are some ADR's for the front bars, if so then those that do not meet certain criteria as determined by design engineers(?) should be plated with "DANGER this bar is not designed for recovery of your vehicle"

Just some thoughts as I feel there are certainly some people who need to be protected from themselves, although any measures would not stop some people from deciding that they don't need to be told

Originally Posted by RichardK

As I read it the report mentioned a "towing Hook".

Now I don't know the details, obviously, but here are a few thoughts:

Sale of snatch straps

A snatch strap is a very lethal weapon, lethal weapons are generally controlled or licensed.........
Perhaps for every snatch strap sold there should be an explicit set of instructions to be read prior to purchase and signed off by the purchaser?
Perhaps for every snatch strap sold there should be a mandatory lesson in the usage of such
Perhaps a certificate of compliance with those or similar conditions to be held by the user of a snatch strap would be sufficient within a group to provide confidence in the person in charge of a recovery.
Perhaps every snatch strap is tagged with a message "DANGER Only to be used with certified recovery points"

Tow Balls

Perhaps every 4WD towbar is etched with the message " DANGER Under no circumstances is a towball to be used as an anchor point for recovery" or a similar message


Front Bars

I am not sure but I would suspect that there are some ADR's for the front bars, if so then those that do not meet certain criteria as determined by design engineers(?) should be plated with "DANGER this bar is not designed for recovery of your vehicle"

Just some thoughts as I feel there are certainly some people who need to be protected from themselves, although any measures would not stop some people from deciding that they don't need to be told

Give bureaucracy an inch and they take a mile ... common sense is all that is required. Not everybody has it and you can't ever legislate the stupid out of people. The last thing we need are more laws, more permits, more government in our business.

Simon.

I agree with Simon. It is impossible to make life entirely safe, and the number of this sort of accident is not sufficient to even start to justify this sort of bureaucracy. As an example of similar bureaucracy, has anyone ever done any sort of cost/benefit analysis on the requirement for certification of towbars, introduced about fifteen years ago? Certainly in fifty years of driving I have never known of an accident related to a towbar failure, although I am sure they have happened. But not very often.

Personally, I regard snatch straps as far more dangerous than firearms! (But then so are cars)

John

Originally Posted by CraigE

The point of a damper blanket is that it will dflect some of the energy downward and displace a large % of the remaining energy by hitting or dragging on the ground.
A damper will not have a lot of effect on a projectile and this comes back to incorrect application (use of towballs, hooks without pins etc).
A damper is generally used to stop the strap, chain or cable recoiling.

And you have a 50% chance of the damper being on the right side of a break too. The safest way to use Recovery gear under load is to stand 1 to 1 1/2 times distance of the length of Snatch strap or winch rope you have laid out.
It just Pees me off to no end watching those videos you get with magazines showing some peanut walking alongside the winch rope and moving the damper so it doesn't foul on stuff. Leave it off and get the hell out of there!
Recovery Dampers are a FAD that will get someone killed before long.
There, I've said it. I hope and pray I'm wrong but I know in my heart that I'm right.

Mainly as a result of this thread, similar discussions here and elsewhere, and careful observation of plonkers, I rarely get the snatch strap out anymore and only if I can be assured that recovery will be safely accomplished (never if the vehicle being freed is bogged in mud). Instead I will use the winch or even a hand winch. Slow and careful permits time to stop, think, release, and adjust as required.

Alan

A picture tells a thousand words


I have a feeling it may have helped, would have slowed it's momentum at the least.

Baz.

Originally Posted by TheLowRanger

Not all tow balls are rated, and of those that are, not all are rated for 3500kg. A lot of the cheaper tow balls don't have a rating, along with a lot of the older ones. The majority of 4wds have a hitch receiver type towbar, remove the hitch, put the strap through the receiver and use the pin to locate it. I have seen bent pins before, but never heard of one snapping. If it did happen to snap both sides of the pin would still be stuck in the receiver and only the strap would fly out. A strap on its own is not particularly lethal, but attach a solid object to the end of it and it's a whole different ball game. If I had a towbar that wasn't a receiver type, I personally would be removing the towball and then inserting a rated shackle through the hole to attach to. Even a 3.2T rated shackle will not self destruct until more than 16T of force has been applied to it.

What you say about tow balls is true, but the main problem is 1. snatch strap recoveries and 2 lack of knowledge and commonsense.
First up education is needed but most don't wan't to be told what to do and commonsense is very thin on the ground.
Secondly IMHO Snatch Straps and Snatching (out of a bog) should not be allowed, banned, legislated against.
I have been a Class 1 Ticketed Rigger for 40 years and NOWHERE in the rigging industry, mining/construction area are any products, such as slings, straps, chains, rope block and tackle or lifting gear that have an ELASTIC property built in. Nylon ropes in block and tackle is banned, because before they were banned people were killing thereselves, because of the elasticity inherent.
One Poster says that there didn't seem to be these sorts of accidents years back, but back then snatch straps were hardly known or used.
Think about the energy thats released during a snatch recovery, now if you haven't been able to debog using a winch/tow strap or chain, a snatch strap is connected and the bogged vehicle is pulled out, if you couldn't move it with conventional means using ever so many tonnes of pressure, then can you imagine how much "tonnage" was stored in the snatch strap under full load.
I don't think any available tow point is safe enough to use with a snatch strap, as I would bet my left nut that NOBODY has ever measured the energy involved and how would you measure it. I doubt that it would be possible to setup a scenario that would give an average Working Load of a snatch strap actually working, there are too many variable, i.e. steepness, type of material bogged in sand/mud etc.
I have had a snatch strap for around 5 years now and it is still in its original wrapper (a present), because of my rigging experience I am wary of it, but all that said they do have a role to play, but the big 'IF" is only if they are used moderately and with some knowledge and a whole lot of commonsense.
It is getting to the point where the number of deaths involving snatch strap recoveries is going to get some Politician who want's to get his name in the media to jump on the Ban Snatch Straps wagon, the thin edge of the wedge, Regards Frank.

As per usual I wrote the above post without looking at the original posters date, but still relevant none the less.
Noted that one poster said along the lines that the driver of the snatch vehicle may have seen the tow/bar/ball coming. Well I doubt that, if you watch some of these disastrous snatch recoveries on U-tube you notice the loud crack when the strap breaks, well that loud crack is the end of the snatch strap and attachments breaking the sound barrier (750mph) as it flies past your head and in this case landing 90METRES behind the vehicle after travelling through 2 windows and a young lads head. Someone said more dangerous than a gun, more likely more dangerous than an artillery piece.
Anyone care to try and work out how much energy was involved here, Regards Frank.