Wiltshire-based Tonic Construction is one of the first building firms to take delivery of the new JCB forward tipping dumpers with full cabs. It has bought two seven-tonne machines from dealer Holt JCB to join its fleet of nine-tonne Wacker Neuson site dumpers with cabs
The new JCBs will be used predominantly on private housing developments, hauling aggregate and spoil around site.
Following a fatality on one of his sites in 2016, Tonic Construction chairman Tony Iles has spearheaded a drive among construction industry managers, manufacturers and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to rid the industry of accidents related to the operation of site dumpers.
The JCB 7T-1 Front Tip Hi-Viz model is designed to addresses the key safety concerns experienced on construction sites – visibility, stability and operator protection. Its low-slung chassis design and revised skip improves forward visibility for the operator when the skip is laden. By increasing the wheelbase, widening the wheel track and lowering the skip height, stability is improved. And it has a ROPS/FOPS Level II JCB SiTESAFE cab as standard to protect the operator in the event of an overturn or collision.
"The new JCB Hi-Viz model typifies what I have been looking for from a front tipping dumper and ticks so many boxes for me” said Tony Iles. “The design is a credit to JCB.”
He said: “The introduction of fully operator protected cabs on site dumpers takes safety to new heights, further enhanced by the superior visibility on this JCB model. We see the Hi-Viz as a massive step forward from our current fleet, due to the extra natural visibility enabled by the lower skip height, and better visibility through the front cab screen. Also, when the local risk assessment allows, operators can potentially stay in the cab during operations, and this could help stop hundreds of trips and dumper related incidents each year.
“JCB has taken site dumper design to the next level. It keeps the momentum going in the movement to make open-cabbed dumpers a thing of the past in the UK construction industry.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
