Securing a load

Apologies if this has already been asked.

I am curious to know the legalities of securing a paletised load on a curtain sided trailer. The company I work for say every pallet should be strapped individually but I’ve heard from some of the drivers that this is not a legal requirement.

If pulled by the VOSA (England), what would they expect to see and what would they penalise you for?

Many thanks

Are you on hours or salary

Ashross:
The company I work for say every pallet should be strapped individually but I’ve heard from some of the drivers that this is not a legal requirement.

Ask yourself this, who’s paying your wages, the company or the other drivers? I’m sorry but if the company states you should put 6 straps on each pallet then that’s what you’ve agreed to do. You need to remember that by accepting employment you’ve agreed to a contract of employment whether you’ve signed a written copy or not, so you’ve already agreed to do things their way!

All employees have an employment contract with their employer. A contract is an agreement that sets out an employee’s:

employment conditions
rights
responsibilities
duties
These are called the ‘terms’ of the contract.

Employees and employers must stick to a contract until it ends (eg by an employer or employee giving notice or an employee being dismissed) or until the terms are changed (usually by agreement between the employee and employer).

Accepting a contract
As soon as someone accepts a job offer they have a contract with their employer. An employment contract doesn’t have to be written down.

Source: gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions

gov.uk/government/publicati … r-guidance

A bit of light reading for you. Standard curtains offer ZERO load restraint, they’re purely for weather protection. Rules are slightly different for load bearing trailers but you might still have a legal obligation to strap.

As reef above says, if it’s part of your job, you’re expected to do it.

You don’t strap anything .

You secure it

That’s the difference

As a general guideline… if a pallet weighs less than 400kg use internals. If it’s more than 400kg use ratchet straps.

Don’t forget to criss cross.

The idea is to prevent movement of the load, that’s forwards backwards and to either side.

But regardless of all that as others have said your company says do it so do it as they’re paying you

Thanks for the advice guys.

Points taken!

Cheers