Current Legislation

As of October 2008 Hill Engineering along with other manufacturers agreed to discontinue the sale of semi-automatic quick hitches.

The reasons behind this move by the Health and Safety Executive and the industry are outlined on the HSE's article on their website.

You can view this article by clicking here.

We can still provide parts and service for existing semi-automatic hitches but would encourage users to switch to the fully automatic type of hitch. For more information please see our New for Old Exchange program.

Industry Opinion

Several press releases have been written on the issue of Quick Hitches

Please click on the links to view:

Construction Plant Association- "Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group sets the record straight on Quick Hitches."

Skanska UK- "Rules for plant and equipment using quick hitches on Skanska sites in the UK as from 1 November 2009"

Bovis Lend Lease- "Quick Hitch Requirements from 1st January 2010"

Balfour Beatty- Tool box talk for ‘Double Locking’ Fully–Automatic Quick hitches


Hill Engineering Clears Confusion

September 2009

RE: Hill Auto-loc 3

In response to the confusion within the industry concerning coupler compliance with the current legislation, Hill Engineering Ltd would like to assure all users as follows:

The Hill Auto-loc 3 complies fully with current legislation relating to Excavator Quick Couplers. The relevant directives met are BS EN 474-1:2006, Annex B, Section B2 with detail as below.

B.2.1 states:

The attachment bracket shall have a locking system that shall meet the following requirements:

  1. The locking system shall keep the attachment bracket in the locked position by a positive engagement system and retain it locked under all intended/normal operating conditions;
  2. It shall be possible to verify the locked position of the attachment bracket from the operator’s station, or from the location where the locking control is operated;
  3. It shall not be possible to release the bracket by malfunction or loss of engagement forces;

B.2.2 states:

  1. The control shall be secured against inadvertent activation;

The Hill Coupler complies with the above requirements in the following ways:

B.2.1 – 1. The positive engagement system comprises the hook and ram assembly;

B.2.1 – 2. This is verified by the orange latch being clearly visible from the operator’s station;

B.2.1 – 3. In the event of a malfunction the attachment bracket is retained by the front latch;

B.2.2 – 1. This is achieved by the use of a locking switch that cannot be accidentally activated by the operator;

Finally in the event of a failure of the power or control circuits the attachment shall be retained because such failure will not result in a loss of the primary engagement force due to the design of the coupler. Under no circumstances shall the attachment separate from the coupler unless intended to do so by the operator.

Furthermore, the key industry leaders, Bovis, Skanska and Balfour Beattie have evaluated couplers and have produced documents containing specific requirements for couplers suitable for use on their sites (see attached). Hill’s Auto-loc 3 has been evaluated, by these industry leaders, against these strict criteria and has been fully approved.

Lastly, conjecture over the forthcoming ISO standards, expected 2012, has resulted in Malcolm Kent of the CEA, a member of the ISO committee drafting the forthcoming requirements for quick couplers, releasing the following statement in the Sept/Oct edition of the PMJ “Anybody claiming their coupler will meet the requirements are speculating. And, as is usual, when the new regulations do take effect, it is unlikely they will apply retrospectively”.


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