After a three-month trial involving three heavy vehicles, Christchurch-based Connetics will be implementing the MAX-SAFE Anti-Rollaway safety solution.

Connetics is responsible for designing, constructing, and maintaining overhead and underground lines used for utility and infrastructure services. The company operates out of depots in Wellington, Christchurch and Central Otago.

Their fleet of 280 vehicles includes various crane trucks, bucket trucks and tippers, many of which can be called upon 24 hours a day. The new safety solution will be automatically included in any new heavy vehicle purchases and progressively retrofitted to the existing fleet.

The MAX-SAFE Maximum Safety Anti-Rollaway Brake System provides an active safety solution should the park brake is not fully applied before leaving the vehicle. It provides protection for the driver, occupants, bystanders and workers – as well as preventing damage to the vehicle and surrounding property.

It’s one of many heavy vehicle safety solutions developed by Australian mechanical and electrical engineering company, SGESCO-MAX. Thousands of vehicles across Australia have been using their Anti-Rollaway Brake System for close to two decades.

In New Zealand the MAX-SAFE Maximum Safety range is sold through Autokraft Electrical and Diesel, the company’s distributor based in Palmerston North.

In implementing the MAX-SAFE Maximum Safety Anti-Rollaway solution, Connetics fleet manager Wayne Johnstone said the organisation wanted to improve safety across its fleet by taking a greater and more pro-active approach to safety.