“Once problems are
identified then the right
data needs to be acquired,
understood and prepared
for analysis.”
“A lot of vehicles are not designed for snatch
straps as the recover point is not strong enough
to withstand the force of a 3-4 tonne vehicle
pulling it out of the mud. I would strongly
recommend we remove the snatch strap from
the workplace and train employees to use other
recovery methods.”
To set an example of safety leadership, the
Toowoomba Regional Council in Queensland
has already taken the step of banning all snatch
straps from its recovery operations. Instead the
council has installed winches to all its off-road
vehicles and mandated that all 4WD courses
they participate in will not feature snatch
recovery training.
At their core snatch-straps are like big elastic
bands; they use kinetic energy to enable the
recovery of a bogged vehicle and it is that
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stored energy which makes them so dangerous.
When the strap stretches it puts a huge strain
on the points where the strap is attached to
both the bogged vehicle and the vehicle doing
the recovery.
Therefore it is critical that both vehicles are fitted
with proper recovery points, preferably attached
directly to the chassis. It is imperative that when
a snatch-strap is used it is attached to a point
on the vehicle that can withstand the huge
forces applied by the stretching strap - a towball
does not meet that criterion.
Don’t take the risk if you don’t need to. Look
towards using winches or other methods to
make the recovery effort a whole lot safer, and
consider whether exercising a complete ban on
snatch straps for your fleet might be helpful.