Many products are almost constantly on the move before they are finished. Up to 50% of the production time alone is spent on transportation inside the factory. Unfortunately, the in-house transportation is reflected in the balance sheets and also in the accidents statistics and accounts for one in four of all industrial accidents.

Internal transport. What was formerly left to chance is nowadays planned to perfection. Manual work is being increasingly replaced by machine work. Robots load trucks without drivers. This vision of the future has already become reality in large warehouses… On the other hand, in many warehouses people are still "pack mules" and "weight-lifters". Several tons have to be lifted and laid every day, leading to serious health disorders.

Eyes fixed on the road ahead, hands firmly on the wheel. Driving a bus is hard work. Keeping to fixed timetables in spite of the city traffic, a constrained sitting position, shift work, night work, irregular breaks, vibration, noise, exhaust fumes and stress. Even a normal working day involves a lot of stress - quite apart from the additional demands made by often less than friendly passengers.

"Just in time production". The heavy goods vehicle is a rolling storeroom on the motorway. Bringing things from every direction. Everything landing at the factory! Dead on time. Keeping to timetables, unable to let off steam. That causes stress. Making up for lost time. Breaks are missed and regulations broken and the safety and health of the driver as well as many others is neglected.

In July 1987 a full laden road tanker crashed headlong into an ice-cream parlour in Herborn. The wrecked lorry, exhibited at the DASA, reminds us of our responsibility in dealing with the risks of technology.