Cameron’s has reinforced its safety message of ‘drive to zero’ for lost-time injuries following the fitment of new JSK42-ASW pneumatic fifth wheels from JOST Australia that target shoulder injuries from releasing turntables. JOST’s award winning fifth wheels double down on the safety theme by providing modern sensor technology that reduces the risk of trailer decoupling.

National freight and logistics operator, Cameron’s, is expanding its long-term relationship with Big W to distribute products from the retailer’s new distribution centre at Hoppers Crossing in Victoria. Cameron’s National Fleet Manager, Greg Morris, says its latest Volvo prime movers have been fitted with equipment specifically tailored for the freight task, including JOST’s latest sensor pneumatic fifth wheels.

“Following de-coupling procedures, the newly released to Australia JSK42-ASW fifth wheel pneumatically release the jaws from inside the cab electronically, eliminating the need for the driver to manually release the jaws,” he says. “All stages from disconnecting to hooking up are integrated into a feature on the dash in the cab of the Volvo that highlights and animates each step.”

“Big W and Primary Connect constantly emphasise ‘safety’ as part of our ongoing relationship with them and at Cameron’s we certainly share these values. We’re really pleased with the way Volvo, JOST and CMV have all come together to deliver a solution to a problem that has been plaguing our industry for years. Previously, for various reasons, manually de-coupling the fifth wheel can at times be a somewhat physical task increasing the risks of shoulder injuries if it’s not done correctly. When we include the carabiner locking mechanism, which has been a standard safety feature on Cameron’s turntables for years, our view is that the de-coupling and re-coupling process in a ‘swing trailer operation’ makes this manoeuvre as safe as possible – an outcome we are very pleased with.”

JOST and Cameron’s have enjoyed a partnership that extends back over 30 years and it continues to grow and get stronger. Greg, stated, “we realised a few years ago that fifth wheels weren’t just fifth wheels. This was evident when JOST came to us with their new sensor top technology that interacted with the dash of a Volvo truck to provide confirmation to the driver whether the jaws had locked or not. This feature significantly decreased risk to our business of a trailer not being coupled correctly. So safety is also now very much a technology proposition and the new JSK42-ASW takes the next step.”

The JSK42-ASW is also a low maintenance top with automatic greasing feature fitted underneath the fifth wheel. This ensures that the jaws are always lubricated that allow the fifth wheel maintenance schedule to align with extended truck service intervals, providing Camerons’ heavy vehicle operators great peace of mind. Cameron’s plans to standardise JOST’s JSK42-ASW fifth wheels across its fleet.