The European Association of Abnormal Road Transport and Mobile Cranes (ESTA) is reviewing the results of surveys into AdBlue safety concerns
ESTA have been conducting surveys of member companies into AdBlue safety concerns.
The surveys have been conducted over the past three months, and now the results are being reviewed.
ESTA has surveyed 55 companies
The companies surveyed span across 10 countries, with the majority of results coming from the UK, the Netherlands, and France.
The results so far show that one third of all on-road breakdowns are in some way related to AdBlue.
Crane and Haulage companies reported problems regarding both mobile and crawler cranes, trucks, and SPMTs, with the most common incident being a public road breakdown, and just under half of respondents said that safety had been breached.
Other issues reported include interruptions to work involving wind-turbines and port load-outs.
Three companies experienced 20 incidents in two years
Tom Klijn, ESTA director, said: “We will continue gathering information and will be consulting with the members of the joint ESTA and FEM European Regulations Workgroup that first raised the issue, and then decide on the next steps.
“What is already clear, however, is that this is a serious issue with considerable safety implications – and it needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
AdBlue is a diesel exhaust fluid designed to reduce the emissions of NOx in diesel vehicles, and bring more sustainable vehicles. It is primarily made of urea and water, and is stored in a separate tank to the fuel, with the refill cap generally being next to the fuel cap.
Concerns are raised regarding the AdBlue system malfunctioning, for example, if the engine is too cold, then the whole engine could shut down and the vehicle, which could be a crane or similar, will lose power mid-operation, and cause large safety concerns for the operators or those nearby.
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