512 EM 385-1-1 Chapters 16-22

Sections

18-7. Minimum Plan Requirements.

Not Applicable.

18-8. General Requirements.

The requirements in this paragraph apply to the operation of motor vehicles, machinery and mechanized equipment, drilling equipment, ATVs, UTVs, and other specialty vehicles. Operators of these items must also comply with state and host nation regulations as applicable to the above listed equipment.

Tests, Maintenance, and Repairs

A Qualified Person (QP) must conduct tests, maintenance, and repairs as per manufacturer's instructions, and document all procedures.
Unsafe equipment must be tagged and taken out of service until corrected by a QP, who must retest and reinspect before return to service.
Maintenance and repair records must be kept available for the life of the contract or ownership.

Guarding and Safety Devices

Equipment must have back-up alarms, warning devices, and guards for exposed parts. Alarms must be audible and operate automatically during backward motion.
Platforms, foot walks, and access ways on machinery must be safe, and vehicles must have proper brake systems and overhead protection.
Vehicles and machinery must have rollover protection, adequate lighting, and safety devices for tires, and operators must be protected from the elements and hazards.

Operating Rules

Adhere to safe practices when boarding or operating vehicles, including not using phones or headphones, and ensuring the use of seat belts and GPS safely.
Follow speed limits, lighting requirements, and proper procedures at railroad crossings, and ensure safe parking and vehicle loading practices.
Use warning devices, traffic cones, and ensure maintenance vehicles are visibly marked and loads are properly secured and flagged.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

18-6. Who must conduct tests, maintenance, and repairs on motor vehicles, machinery, and equipment per manufacturer's instructions, and document all procedures?

An authorized maintenance person

The KO or COR

A Competent Person (CP)

A Qualified Person (QP)

You forgot to answer the question!

EM 385-1-1 Paragraph 18-8 (a.–c.).

18-8. General Requirements. (a.–c.).

a.  Tests, Maintenance, and Repairs.  (18-8.a)

(1)  Tests, maintenance, and repairs must be conducted by a QP according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  All tests, maintenance, and repairs must be documented. (See para 18-5)

(a)  For contract operations, keep records of maintenance and repairs conducted during the life of the contract available upon request of the KO or COR.

(b)  For USACE operations, keep records of maintenance and repair for the duration of ownership.

(2)  Whenever any motor vehicles, machinery and mechanized equipment, drilling equipment, ATVs, UTVs, or other specialty vehicles are found to be unsafe, or whenever a deficiency that affects the safe operation is observed, the equipment must immediately be taken out of service and its use prohibited until unsafe conditions have been corrected.

(a)  Place a tag indicating the equipment must not be operated in a conspicuous location on the equipment.  Where required, follow LOTO procedures.  (See chapter
        12).

(b)  Tags must remain in place until removed by a QP after corrections are complete and the equipment has been retested and reinspected.

b.  Guarding and Safety Devices.  Do not remove guards, safety appliances, or devices from vehicles or machinery and mechanized equipment, or make them ineffective, except for when making immediate repairs, lubrications, or adjustments, and then only after the equipment has been de-energized and HECP LOTO procedures are implemented.  Immediately replace all guards and devices upon completion of repairs and adjustments and before the item is released from LOTO.  (See chapter 12) (18-8.b)

(1)  Reverse Signal (back-up) Alarm.  All self-propelled construction and industrial equipment, dump trucks, and cargo trucks, whose trailer or body permanently block the view to the rear, whether moving alone or in combination, must be equipped with a
    back-up alarm.

Note. Equipment designed and operated so that the operator is always facing the direction of motion does not require a back-up alarm.

Note.  Commercial cargo vehicles such as pick-up trucks, utility cargo/tool trucks, and flat-bed cargo trucks intended for use on public highways with a normally clear view through the rear window are not required to have back-up alarms.  If the rear view is temporarily obstructed by a load or permanently blocked by a utility/toolbox or other modification, then a signal person may be used, if the value outweighs the risk to the signal person. In lieu of a signal person, a back-up alarm must be installed.

(a)  Back-up alarms must be audible and sufficiently distinct to be heard above the surrounding noise level.

(b)  Alarms must operate automatically upon commencement of backward motion. Alarms may be continuous or intermittent (not to exceed 3-second intervals) and must operate during the entire backward movement.

(2)  Warning Devices.  Provide a warning device where there is danger to persons from moving equipment, swinging loads, buckets, booms, or similar.  A signal person may be used in lieu of a warning device if the value outweighs the risk to the signal person.

(3)  Guarding. Guard all belts, gears, shafts, pulleys, sprockets, spindles, drums, flywheels, chains, or other reciprocating, rotating, or moving parts of equipment when exposed to contact by persons or when they otherwise create a hazard.

(a)  Guard or insulate all hot surfaces of equipment, including exhaust pipes or other lines to prevent injury or fire.

(b)  All points requiring lubrication during operation must have fittings so located or guarded to be accessible without hazardous exposure.

(4)  Design, construct, and install platforms, foot walks, steps, handholds, guardrails, and toe boards on machinery and mechanized equipment to provide safe footing and access ways.

(5)  Provide machinery and mechanized equipment with suitable working surfaces of platforms, guardrails, and hand grabs when attendants or other employees are required to ride for operating purposes outside the operator's cab or compartment. Platforms and steps must be of nonskid material.

(6)  Provide substantial overhead protection for the operators of forklifts and similar material handling equipment (see para 18-8.i).

(7)  Brake Systems. Equip all vehicles, except trailers having a gross weight of
    5,000 lbs. (2,268 kg) or less, with service brakes and manually operated parking brakes.

(a)  Service and parking brakes must be adequate to control the movement of, to stop, and to hold the vehicle under all conditions of service.

(b)  The braking systems on every combination of vehicles must be in approximate synchronization on all wheels and develop the required braking effort on the rear-most wheels first.  The brake system must be configured so that the brakes are applied from the prime mover driver’s seat.  Exceptions to this are vehicles in tow by an approved tow bar hitch according to applicable federal, state, or local requirements.

(8)  Locate fuel tanks so that spills or overflows will not run onto engine, exhaust, or electrical equipment.

(9)  Direct exhaust or discharges from equipment so that they do not endanger persons or obstruct the view of the operator.

(10)  Use a safety tire rack, cage, or equivalent protection when inflating,
    mounting, or dismounting tires installed on split rims, or rims equipped with locking rings or similar devices.

(11) Seat Belts. All occupants of motor vehicles must wear seat belts.  The seat belt assemblies and anchorages must comply with 49 CFR 571.  Installation and use on buses is optional.

(a)  Two-piece seat belts and anchorages for construction equipment must comply with applicable federal specifications or SAE J386.

(b)  All construction equipment equipped with seat belts must have the seat belts worn by the operator, unless specified otherwise in the manufacturer’s operating manual and justified in an AHA and approved in writing by the USACE supervisor or accepted by the KO or COR.

(12)  All high-lift PITs must be equipped with overhead guards that meet the structural requirements defined in ANSI/ITSDF B56.1.

(13) Provide suitable protection against the elements, falling or flying objects, swinging loads, and similar hazards for operators of all machinery and mechanized equipment. Glass used in windshields or cabs must be safety glass.

(14) Falling Object Protective Structures (FOPS).  Provide all bulldozers, tractors, or similar equipment used in clearing operations with guards, canopies, or grills to protect the operator from falling and flying objects as appropriate to the nature of the clearing operations.

(a)  Furnish FOPS for other construction, industrial, and grounds-keeping equipment when the operator is exposed to falling object hazards.

(b)  FOPS must be certified by the manufacturer or a licensed engineer.

(15)  Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS).

(a)  In addition to the requirements of paragraph 18-8.b, ROPS must be installed on:

(a-1)  Crawler and rubber-tire tractors including dozers, push and pull tractors, winch tractors, and mowers.

(a-2)  Off-the-highway self-propelled pneumatic-tire earth movers (for example, trucks, pans, scrapers, bottom dumps, and end dumps).

(a-3)  Motor graders.

(a-4)  Water tank trucks having a tank height less than the cab.

(a-5)  Other self-propelled construction equipment such as front-end loaders, backhoes, rollers, and compactors.

(b)  ROPS are not required on:

(b-1)  Trucks designed for hauling on public highways.

(b-2)  Crane-mounted dragline backhoes.

(b-3)  Sections of rollers and compactors of the tandem, steel-wheeled, and self- propelled pneumatic-tired type that do not have an operator's station.

(b-4)  Self-propelled, rubber-tired lawn and garden tractors and side-boom pipe laying tractors operated solely on flat terrain (maximum 10-degree slope; 20-degree slope permitted when off-loading from a truck) not exposed to rollover hazards.

(b-5)  Cranes, draglines, or equipment on which the operator's cab and boom rotate as a unit.

(c)  ROPS may be removed from certain types of equipment when the work cannot be performed with the ROPS in place and when ROPS removal is justified and delineated in an AHA and approved in writing by the USACE supervisor or accepted by the KO or COR.

(d)  The operating authority must furnish proof from the manufacturer or certification from an RPE that the ROPS complies with applicable SAE Standards (that is, J167, J1042, J1194).  ROPS are also considered acceptable if they meet the criteria of any state that has a Department of Labor-approved OSHA program or meets Water and Power Resources Service requirements.

(16) All machinery and mechanized equipment and material hoists operating on rails, tracks, or trolleys must have positive stops or limiting devices either on the equipment, rails, tracks, or trolleys to prevent overrunning safe limits.

(17) Under the following circumstances, long-bed end-dump trailers used in off- road hauling must be equipped with a rollover warning device.  The device must have a continuous monitoring display at the operator station to give the operator a quick and easily read indicator and audible warning of an unsafe condition:

(a)  The material being dumped is subject to being stuck or caught in the trailer rather than exiting the bed freely.

(b)  The dumpsite cannot be maintained in a nominally level condition (that is, lateral slope less than 1o- 2o).

Note. If a rollover warning device is unavailable, a CP must perform a risk assessment and document the findings in the AHA as to why this requirement is not practical. Identify appropriate precautions and/or controls to ensure an equal level of safety is being accomplished.

(18) Vehicle Lighting.  Equip vehicles or combinations of vehicles with the following equipment, except motorcycles and specialty vehicles, whenever visibility conditions warrant additional light:

(a)  Two headlights, one on each side in the front.

(b)  At least two red taillights, one on each side of the rear.

(d)  Three emergency flares or visible emergency warning lights or equivalent portable warning device.

c.  Operating Rules. (18-8.c)

(1)  Do not get off or on any motor vehicles, machinery and mechanized equipment, ATV’s, UTV’s and other specialty vehicles while they are  in motion.

(2)  Do not use cellular telephones when operating a government-owned motor vehicle.  Hands-free devices only may be used.

(a)  Prior to using a hand-held cellular phone, find a safe place to bring the vehicle to a stop.

(b)  Text messaging by the operator is strictly prohibited while operating motor vehicles.

(3)  Do not use any other portable headphones, earphones, or other listening devices (except for hands–free devices) while operating a government-owned motor vehicle.

(4)  Do not eat, drink alcohol, or smoke while the vehicle is in motion.

(5)  Global Positioning System (GPS).

(a)  Mount the GPS so that it does not create sight hazards for the operator.  A non-mounted GPS may only be used by the vehicle operator while the vehicle is in a stopped position.

(b)  Do not program the GPS while the vehicle is in motion.

(6)  Never exceed speeds greater than the posted speed limit.  Reduce speeds when road conditions reduce the ability to maintain control of the vehicle or stop within a safe distance.

(7)  Headlights must be on during fog, smoke, rain, from sunset to sunrise, and at any other time when there is not sufficient light for the vehicle to be seen or the operator to see on the highway at a distance of 500 feet (152.4 m), unless local regulations prohibit.

(8)  Do not drive motor vehicles on a downgrade with gears in neutral or clutch disengaged.

(9)  Railroad Crossings and Drawbridges.

(a)  Upon approaching a railroad crossing or drawbridge, slow vehicle speeds to permit stopping before reaching the nearest track or the edge of the draw bridge and proceed only if the course is clear.

(b)  Vehicles transporting 15 or more persons, explosives, or flammable or toxic substances must stop at railroad crossings and drawbridges and must not proceed until the course is clear, except at a railroad crossing or drawbridge protected by a traffic officer or a traffic signal giving a positive indication for approaching vehicles to proceed.

(10) Do not stop, park, or leave standing vehicles on any road in a position that would endanger the occupants, the vehicle, personnel in the area, or other vehicles. Ascertain a safe exit path before exiting vehicle.

(11) Do not leave vehicles unattended until the motor has been shut off, the key removed (unless local regulations prohibit), parking brake set (when applicable), and gear engaged in low, reverse, or park.

(12) Do not get between a towed vehicle and towing vehicle except when hooking or unhooking.

(13) Do not move vehicles or combination of vehicles hauling unusually heavy loads or equipment until the driver has been provided with the required permits, the correct weights of the vehicles and load, and a designated route to be followed according to this manual, applicable federal, state, or local requirements.

(14) When maneuvering or performing back-up operations, use a signal person when the point of operation (that is, area of load travel and area immediately surrounding the load placement) is not in full view of the operator, when vehicles are backed more than 100 feet (30.5 m), when terrain is hazardous, or when two or more vehicles are backing up in the same area.  If a signal person or spotter is not used, operators must walk behind their vehicle to view the area for possible hazards before performing back-up operations with their vehicle.  (See chapter 8)

(15) When vehicles or machinery and mechanized equipment are parked or disabled on a highway or the adjacent shoulder, use yellow flashing lights and other traffic warning devices (for example, cones, flags, signs) during the daytime and reflectors, flares, electric lights, or other effective means of identification at night.

(16)  Loading Vehicles.

(a)  Leave the cab while the vehicle is being loaded when exposed to danger from suspended loads or overhead loading equipment unless the cab is adequately protected.

(b)  Do not load vehicles in a manner that obscures the driver’s view ahead or to either side, or which interferes with the safe operation of the vehicle.

(c)  Distribute, chock, tie down, and secure all loads.  Cover the load when there is a hazard of flying or falling dirt, rock, debris, or other materials.  Do not remove tail gates without first implementing a positive means to prevent the material from falling out of the back of the vehicle, and only as approved by the USACE supervisor or accepted by the KO or COR.

(d)  When carrying loads that project beyond the front, sides or rear of the vehicle or trailers, attach a red flag, not less than 144 in2 (929 cm2), at or near the end of the projection.  At night or when atmospheric conditions restrict visibility, use a warning light in lieu of the red flag. Ensure the load does not obscure vehicle lights and/or reflectors.

(17) Maintenance Vehicles.  Equip all maintenance vehicles that are used at USACE recreational areas (or projects) with two 28 inches (71 cm) day glow/high- visibility orange traffic cones.  When parked, place a cone in front and behind the vehicle, and remove and place in vehicle prior to departure.

512 EM385-1-1 Chapters 16-22