Tire safety first—and make it last

Tire safety first—and make it last

The word “safety,” and certainly detailed discussion about tire safety, usually quiets meetings and tends to put serious expressions on most faces—as it well should. Truck tire servicing can be very dangerous, even fatal.

Tire mounting, demounting, jacking, and securing vehicles for tire/wheel servicing injure or kill technicians with surprising frequency. Sadly, nearly all of these incidents are avoidable with simple training, care and established maintenance shop procedures that are widely publicized.

The contained inflation pressure in a truck tire/wheel assembly can become deadly if a sudden air loss takes place. I have personally observed several of these explosions during my decades in the industry, thankfully from a safe distance, and I assure you, it is a very sobering experience. Before inflation safety cages were mandated, I witnessed tire/wheel pieces puncturing a multi-story shop roof and also blowing parts through an insulated shop bay door.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been involved with shop safety relating to tire and wheel servicing for decades and dictates training requirements for tire techs, along with mandatory shop posting of certain wall charts/material in shop areas (www.osha.gov/publications/wheel/wheel-chart-booklet.pdf). One of the best resources for OSHA information and materials, along with a variety of other tire/wheel servicing information and professional training, is the Tire Industry Association (TIA)—www.tireindustry.org.

Modern over the road radial tires are nearly all tubeless and mounted on single piece wheels. While visiting shops, I’ve noticed some all too common practices that make me wince and immediately retreat to other (safer) areas.

First is seeing tires inflated while placed flat on a shop floor without being placed in a restraining safety cage. The only acceptable alternative for mounting and inflating new tires is to mount the tires on wheels that are secured (bolted and tightened) to a vehicle.

Note, however, that all retreaded tires must be inflated only in a safety cage after mounting. Especially disturbing is seeing a new generation wide single tire being mounted and inflated while sitting flat on a concrete floor, which can serve as a unidirectional launching pad for parts in the event of a sudden air loss.

Another unwelcome sight is a safety cage bolted, lag screwed or otherwise attached to the floor, a steel plate or another structure. This is a big “no-no.”

The purpose of the cage is to absorb energy by deformation and some degree of movement in the event of a tire explosion. Cages should be free from any permanent mounting.

It is also unnecessarily risking injury to stand directly in front of, or even obliquely positioned in the “trajectory zone” (defined in OSHA materials) while inflating a tire. Clip-on air chucks with leaders of sufficient hose length should be used to allow technicians to stand clear during the inflation process.

Another often overlooked is training. All persons mounting and demounting tires must be properly trained. If the regular, trained tire technician isn’t available, no other shop person should be allowed to perform the tire mounting/demounting functions without proper OSHA required training.

Of course, proper tools and lubricants should always be readily available and used as instructed.

Inflation limiting pressure valves, compressed air driers and contaminant filters are essential (never use compressed air containing air tool lubricants for tire inflation).

The first priority, however, should always be proper, approved training of tire servicing personnel.

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