The boss has said the tail lift can take this weight,so can you,as expected to shift heavy pallets of grain/compost/chemicals/IBC containers,what is the law on this?I get lower back pain at end of shift,and sometimes i have to break down a pallet that is shrink wrapped,too heavy to move it,the customer does not mind,they have no choice,if they want it.
A tonne or so up to about 1.3 tonnes should be well within the abilities of a driver. Are you a chunky monkey or had back problems in the past?
Weak back,if i dont go to a gym to make it strong,im 15 stone.
used to load unload ton bags of magnessium(on pallet)
…forklift onto tail ,drop unit air then hope you didnt go through the van when the pallet truck picks up speed.
also tonne skids o cement loaded on a slope not fun!!
still better than loading single bags of a belt and stacking them… 
jimmy.
If in doubt,hand ball it off,good exercise.
There are lots of pallets trucks designed to move 3 tonnes or more, they are easy to use on a smooth surface, it is easier to roll something than drag it, the weights less important than the surface, there are some pallet trucks available with pneumatic tyres for building sites and workshops where the floor is rough.
Although not much good for loading 33 pallets on a trailer
Call me a lazy bassa but i went down south for a load for morrisons bellshill, it was 26 pallets each weighing around 500kgs each. It was on a box and i told them no chance stick it on a curtain 
Also see a malcom driver at booker livingston with 26 pallets of juice coming off a container, told him he was off his head stick it on a bay round the front.
Now i know pallet trucks can lift 2tons etc but imo opinion that is on a flat surface on a warehouse not 5ft off the ground in a trailer full of bits of broken pallet - i just think its too dangerous a slip and that pallet could crush you.
I on a few occasions used to have to move packs of bricks for B&Q on a pallet truck off and on a taillift and theres 500 bricks in a pack bloody hard work espacially when the taillift has a very slight lip you just cant get over and we were exspected to move the bricks up on to pavements with just the pallet truck. I’m a thin guy weighing only 12 stone it can be done but not advised 
When you’ve got 27 tons of chip board / blocks / pallets of bags / dumpy bags scattered all over the carrigeway, with a wagon on it’s side, a pump truck is the least of your worries.
The whole lot needs hand-balling back onto the truck (once the truck is stood back up). And it will need doing at 3 AM in galeforce winds and driving rain.
Thats why all us recovery lads are tough brother-truckers 
On a more serious note, the following legislation covers the max limits for manual handling with lifting aids:
[F3(4A)Before the Executive gives guidance under subsection (4)(b) it shall consult the local working pracices. .
(4B)It shall be the duty of the driver– .
(a)to establish best practice and consistency in the correct and safe loading of the vehicle within the relevant statutory provisions; .
(b)to do this in a precise, efficient and safe manner; .
(c)to man up a bit and stop bleating on about having to do work other than sitting on arse all day; .
(d)to secure the load in such a fashion as it is safe to transport by road.
Hiya…been there and pulled my gut out. i think currants and cherries are a ton and half.
we used to have two 1 ton pallets doubled up to get our weight on so that was the unit air bags
right up and roll the two doubles backwards…i’am not 100% sure but the recomended weight to
move on your own with a pump truck is 650kgs…yes so why have them lift 2000kgs
John
Wheel Nut:
There are lots of pallets trucks designed to move 3 tonnes or more, they are easy to use on a smooth surface, it is easier to roll something than drag it, the weights less important than the surface, there are some pallet trucks available with pneumatic tyres for building sites and workshops where the floor is rough.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RuL_zEIVqQ
Although not much good for loading 33 pallets on a trailer
These trucks are Complete CRAP!! had them at my last place, Even with the tyres up to the correct pressure they would stuggle with anything!
I now see draymen use a mini electric one on their trucks, and the kegs are on a moulded pallet too. Ideal size for a truck this one I saw.
Worth looking into?? H&S does have it’s benefits. 
had a couple of cages from Zoo the other night, ■■ knows what weight was in them. Thinking of getting a pallet truck for shifting things (feed, hay bales, logs, breeze blocks) round at home though.
It is pretty simple:
If it is too heavy for you - don’t force yourself to do it, if you hurt your back or any other part of your body and are off work I am confident your boss will back away and not support you one bit. If you get hurt it will be your own fault.
I used to move pallets of Beer that weighed over a ton,but to be honest this was all day every day and the secret is technique. Knowing when to push and when to pull is vital.
I loaded 26t of boxed salt on 33 Euro pallets with a pump truck onto a hanging garment trailer in Holland once.
The first time I got blisters on my hands in eighteen years. I’m just glad it was a Friday because I had to drink a lot of cool German beer to help me recover…
W
brados:
It is pretty simple:If it is too heavy for you - don’t force yourself to do it, if you hurt your back or any other part of your body and are off work I am confident your boss will back away and not support you one bit. If you get hurt it will be your own fault.
As the man says , but just to add when your back is [zb] thats it!!- is your job worth your health ?
The Coca Cola Kid:
and the secret is technique. Knowing when to push and when to pull is vital.
Agreed, when I first started on for John Dickinson, I would do the coal occasionally, when they were busy or short staffed.
First few days was an absolute killer, lifting 50kg bags off the truck, onto your shoulders (keeping it upright cos they’re all open sacks), up stairs, round garden paths, then tipping them into a coal bunker without dropping them or spilling them all over etc etc.
Back, legs, shoulders, arms, neck, stomache all aching like hell on a night.
The regular coal men made it look soo easy, they never cracked a sweat.
Then something just clicked, like riding a bike, all of a sudden it was dead easy, not strenuous, once you’d found the trick!
From then on I could pick them 50kg bags with one hand, tip them with no hands and easily do 8 ton a day 
The Coca Cola Kid:
I used to move pallets of Beer that weighed over a ton,but to be honest this was all day every day and the secret is technique. Knowing when to push and when to pull is vital.
And it makes things much easier with air suspension
I’m not a big fan of using a pallet truck, it’s the principal of it, I get paid to drive, not unload 
However, sometimes it suits my purpose to jump in the back and get the load off as quick as possible, so I’ll do it in those circumstances
Recently I had to do it, I had two drops, the first for 22 pallets, the second had two, it was getting late in the day and at the first drop they had a bloke in the trailer with a pallet truck, he was a big old boy, lots of brute force but no technique. To make matters harder, I was parked facing downhill, my trailer has an aloominum ribbed floor, it was 35c and it was in Denver, which is a mile above sea level, so has very thin air. Long story short, this bloke couldn’t get the pallets turned around in the trailer, so I ended up doing it, now I’m a lazy fat [zb]stard so it really got the blood pumping and the sweat glands working, but I done it and jumped straight out the trailer and chain smoked a couple of Malboro, my thinking was, if that doesn’t give me a heart attack, nothing will So as well as getting me down the road a bit quicker, I also got a free medical out of it too 
I’m about to start a new job on agency 6am tomorrow. 7.5ton, multidrop, central London, tail lift/pump truck. Oh great! I needs the money for x-mas 
Anyway, ironically it’s running out of the same yard I used to work at in a similar role a few years back but the firm went under. I was again doing multi drop, lots of 1 to 1.5 ton pallets of stone or turf to deal with, shifting them up slopes, rough paths and driveways. I only did the job for about 7 months but that’s all it took for it to have a long term effect on my back. Since then, my back can take less strain before it starts to play up than before.
Problem was, back then I was more enthusiastic, I always did my best to get the work done on time and do my best for the company and customers. Now I’m a little older and wiser, I’m gonna be a lot more careful. Even so, many awkward situations cannot be avoided no matter how many manual handling videos you watch.
As someone said before, I find that the weight’s not really an issue, provided you’re not on a steep slope which would be a serious risk, but it’s the surface that the pump truck’s running over which really governs how much force you have to exert.