To protect drivers and other road users, the (Road Vehicles) Construction and Use Regulations 1986 indicate that loads must be secured, if necessary by physical restraint other than their own weight, so they don’t present a danger or nuisance. VOSA can enforce a range of regulatory powers, including prohibiting the continued use of the vehicle if they feel there is serious risk to other road users, workers or to the driver and has stated that operators who are currently complying with the Construction and Use Regulations should see no difference in VOSA’s enforcement policy from April.
I’m a bit at odds with the bit here in bold.
Since when has the law ever been based on how someone feels. Surely if the VOSA officer has just found out his wife was having an affair, he might feel a bit different about your load than if she’d given him a cracking B.J. that morning and swallowed. Maybe his feelings about the driver whether they are Pakistani or gay might influence his feeling about their load.
Surely if you are in the power to place a restriction as costly as these VOSA people are allowed to, there should be more legislation than how you feel (on that day) to allow you to use your powers.
waynedl:
I agree with this. I’ve read the advise some have given, but it’d be even more of a danger, a strap put over a pallet that’s going on the top of a double deck trailer, then dropping it down the sides from 15’ up?? How is the driver to get up there to get the strap ends when it’s 15’, I’m only 5’8, can reach about 6’8 into the air, so about 8’6 short of where the straps are… I’ll climb onto the 3’ bed then, oh wait…
Perhaps we’ll see a great increase in the use of those always difficult to get into - inches wider than the trailer, slot type loading bays that are level with the trailer. Much easier to get the straps over from there BUT then difficult, if not imposible - especially if you’re a bit close on one side - to get under the side of the trailer to hook them on.
and what about all the double deckers running in and out of the overnight pallet hubs ■■? at the moment you aren’t given the time or space to start strapping every pallet on your load, and when you consider that most of these loads are approx 50 pallets, ( sometimes more ), it would make some runs impossible for time. the only solution i can think of for these, would be a load restraining cargo net, on a rail, inside of , or built into the existing curtains… VOSA and the HSE should be consulting the trailer makers instead of blaming the drivers, give us the correct gear to do the job and we might just use it.
waynedl:
I agree with this. I’ve read the advise some have given, but it’d be even more of a danger, a strap put over a pallet that’s going on the top of a double deck trailer, then dropping it down the sides from 15’ up?? How is the driver to get up there to get the strap ends when it’s 15’, I’m only 5’8, can reach about 6’8 into the air, so about 8’6 short of where the straps are… I’ll climb onto the 3’ bed then, oh wait…
Perhaps we’ll see a great increase in the use of those always difficult to get into - inches wider than the trailer, slot type loading bays that are level with the trailer. Much easier to get the straps over from there BUT then difficult, if not imposible - especially if you’re a bit close on one side - to get under the side of the trailer to hook them on.
Trukkertone:
and what about all the double deckers running in and out of the overnight pallet hubs ■■? at the moment you aren’t given the time or space to start strapping every pallet on your load, and when you consider that most of these loads are approx 50 pallets, ( sometimes more ), it would make some runs impossible for time. the only solution i can think of for these, would be a load restraining cargo net, on a rail, inside of , or built into the existing curtains… VOSA and the HSE should be consulting the trailer makers instead of blaming the drivers, give us the correct gear to do the job and we might just use it.
Simple, this one, ban the use of Double Deckers and bring in the European Height limit for trailers, that is one EC rule we should welcome.
Air freight companies carry pallets and they use sided box vans and rollerbeds, their need for quick turnarounds is far outweighed by a pallet that can sit in the yard for a week
Simple, this one, ban the use of Double Deckers and bring in the European Height limit for trailers, that is one EC rule we should welcome.
It was the hero’s of the working classes, Blair and new labour, who threw the EU hieght limit regs into the waste bin, what I personally predict is that most tautliner operators will do is issue ‘‘customs sealing cords’’ for all thier trailers, making it illegal for VOSA to break open the seals or remove the cords, just a lot more work for the driver, again.
I doubt you will stop VOSA opening unofficial sealing cords, even with TIR documents, customs are allowed to open them up if they see a need.
Trukkertone:
and what about all the double deckers running in and out of the overnight pallet hubs ■■? at the moment you aren’t given the time or space to start strapping every pallet on your load, and when you consider that most of these loads are approx 50 pallets, ( sometimes more ), it would make some runs impossible for time. the only solution i can think of for these, would be a load restraining cargo net, on a rail, inside of , or built into the existing curtains… VOSA and the HSE should be consulting the trailer makers instead of blaming the drivers, give us the correct gear to do the job and we might just use it.
Simple, this one, ban the use of Double Deckers and bring in the European Height limit for trailers, that is one EC rule we should welcome.
Air freight companies carry pallets and they use sided box vans and rollerbeds, their need for quick turnarounds is far outweighed by a pallet that can sit in the yard for a week
I agree a 110% with this. Uk haulage is in a right mess when it comes to load security and its not just the drivers its the companies we’re collecting from as well that need to sort it out. If a pallet is heavy enough that it requires straps they should be shrink wrapping corner protecters in when they put the load together, they do it in german so they can bloody well do it here. It doesnt take that long to secure a load properly if the plate is low enough from the roof to throw a strap over and strong enough to get a good bit of tension to hold it down. The big problem we have though is that many companies jsut turn round and say thats fine without a strap or the haulage firm to allowing you the small amount of extra time required to secure it properly.
Saaamon:
I agree a 110% with this. Uk haulage is in a right mess when it comes to load security and its not just the drivers its the companies we’re collecting from as well that need to sort it out. If a pallet is heavy enough that it requires straps they should be shrink wrapping corner protecters in when they put the load together, they do it in german so they can bloody well do it here. It doesnt take that long to secure a load properly if the plate is low enough from the roof to throw a strap over and strong enough to get a good bit of tension to hold it down. The big problem we have though is that many companies jsut turn round and say thats fine without a strap or the haulage firm to allowing you the small amount of extra time required to secure it properly.
load security is purely common sense, isn’t it? if it’s 52 pallets of glass, strap them, if it’s a load of RPC containers / Linn Pack loads etc, a x-strap over the back is ample
I was at a certain banana packhouse yesterday. One of there own drivers was reversing onto a bay, stopped, opened a back door and was greeted by half a pallet of bananas falling out the back Luckily he managed to side step it as it would have done him some serious damage.
lost count of the amount of times I’ve heard drivers say they dont move as they pack them in so tight
I work for a builders merchant driving a rear mounted crane truck which has caged sides. There are no anchor points on the bed, and just rope hooks under the side rails.
Our manager has told us we should hold the cage side half way up, feed the ratchet hook down through the gap and hook it onto the side rail for securing the load. Is this a safe anchor point?
We carry a lot of bulk ton bags, how would you secure these? Also concrete blocks, which are stacked in 4 layers of 18, how would you secure these so as there would be no forward movement?
TorukUK:
Our manager has told us we should hold the cage side half way up, feed the ratchet hook down through the gap and hook it onto the side rail for securing the load. Is this a safe anchor point?
Manager is correct. Most truck bodies are designed for securing to the side raves. Its only exceptionally heavy items where the strap needs to go direct to the chassis, although there are members here will tell you otherwise. Do not anchor to the rope hooks.
We carry a lot of bulk ton bags, how would you secure these?
Pass a strap through the handles. You’ll never keep it tight throughout the journey, but at least it can be seen you’ve made an attempt.
Also concrete blocks, which are stacked in 4 layers of 18, how would you secure these so as there would be no forward movement?
Never carried these, but suggest packing with pallets or other dunnage from the head board and between each pack to same level as the pack. You could also place a pallet over the pack and strap over, or through that. If over, be sure the strap lies inline with the blocks.
some good advice and posts, but as has been said the driver falls prey every time just last week i was sent to a firm where the whole kit was inadequate to be honest so i pulled 2 tyres to be fixed and overheard the office wallers saying bloody agency drivers, their own drivers dont complain as in fear no doubt but companies like this still get through the net it needs to change as also was said
its not just curtainsiders they are cracking down on, flats are next on there hit list, I,ve just spent 2 hrs in a classroom this week doing the Tata load restraint course on carrying and restraining steel, the amount of chains you need to put on a load now is getting ridiculous and its all been devised after consultations with the HSE , some engineer and VOSA, after doing the TATA course you are issued with a card by Norbert dentrassangle (who run the transport for tata) and it will show on the back which product you are trained to carry, theres different modules for plate, sections, pipes, coil etc and you must show this every time you load at a Tata site, in 6 months time it will be “no card no load” at any of their sites
Because of the bow in his 53 foot trailer the front of the box was 6 inches off the deck, and no timber lying around to chock it. 2 straps over the top does look a bit hopeful but then he solved his problem with chains.
Chain down a loaded box on a trailer with a convex bow on it.
Unstuff box.
Lift off empty box…hope he didn’t use dogs/togs/dwangs or whatever you call overcentre lever tensioners.
Looks like a metal box on a metal trailer bed too?
First buy some timber if none lying around.
Then run two chains off each of the top corner blocks.
One each running diagonal down/across the end of the box and one down/along the side.
That was my first thought too, even with the chains, without at the very least being on a flat surface I wouldn’t have taken it.
I can’t see where he has tensioned that chain, it appears to just go through the casting and back again. I wonder if it runs underneath the deck to pass through the other casting and is tensioned underneath the trailer?
It casts my mind back to the 1970s when I was working for Midland Storage. We had Pitt trailers, flat deck with no headboard and with container fixings for 20 foots and 40s, but nothing for 30 foots. Before I aquired my chains we were sometimes required to load out of Preston Northern Ireland Trailers.
Sometimes they were ordinary lorry bodies but then they progressed to flat containers, at 30 foot, so the choice was to set it at the front to lock onto the front twistlock, or to the back onto the back one. Probably the latter was better for weight distribution but neither was completely safe.
There was a 3rd choice, plump it in the middle held just by ropes double dollied at each of the 4 corners.
I always chose the back fixing with ropes at the front, but a mate of mine chose ropes all round and the thing shot straight on, off the trailer, at the first left turn,.then shot along the road neatly taking out the complete bollard island in front of it. The spuds in their bags remained securely in place under the excellent Irish roping and sheeting.
Wasn’t there law back then about containers not being properly secured? I remember at Southampton docks the dockers themselves refused to load trailers without correct fixings. Very sensible, but less sensible was their refusal to unload such trailers and sent them away, back onto public roads to re-create the very risk they were complaining about.
Luckily he managed to side step it as it would have done him some serious damage.
