First day on the fridges - any advice?

Hey guys,

May be doing a few days work for Yearsley starting from tomorrow.

Till now I’ve only done pallets and general haulage, never cages or chilled food.

I know I’ll be expected to handball the food into the customer’s location, but what else will be different? I’ve never used cages before and assuming it’s just a case of load them as per the manifest and then push them as close to the desired location as I can?

How do I store the cages in the wagon? Are they kept in place by one of those cross bars?

1st unless some one shows you the fridge controls don’t ! fiddle , But keep eye on Temp gauge
2nd keep rear door shut unless unloading/loading
3rd if chiller starts up but don’t sound happy call it straight in
watch out if doing frozen and it’s a wet day as ice will build up by door

Yearsley don’t do twin evap fridges.

Should only be frozen you deal with. Work is easy enough, most places will be bay drops with the odd pump truck action.

No cages used, only pallets. Straps and bars don’t really get used with them.

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We use mainly cages and I’ll always make sure there’s 2 straps/bars holding the last ones just in case one method of restraint fails there’s a back up, it’ll probably be frozen so tread carefully on that floor it can be like an ice rink I know as I went a cropper a few months ago !!.

Is it multi drop or longer distance stuff ?

Mostly as been said.
Important thing is get someone to show you how the fridge works.
The second most important thing is make sure there’s fuel yes FUEL in the tank do not trust by the gauge get a bit of stick and dip the tank, the amount of times I’ve picked up a fridge that the gauge says full when the senders been connected wrongly.
If your riding on the lift with cages 2 cages only.
If using straps the hook needs to be the depth of at least half the cage.
2 restraints minimum top and bottom you’ll work out how to fold the cages and when to fold or nor to fold.

Tricky 21 Jan:
Yearsley don’t do twin evap fridges.

Should only be frozen you deal with. Work is easy enough, most places will be bay drops with the odd pump truck action.

No cages used, only pallets. Straps and bars don’t really get used with them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I‘ve done a few Yearsley shifts and was left alone. Only being trunking trailers between their depots.
Very easy work, some of their staff is a bit funny about things but you get that everywhere.

Some trailers are really battered and bruised. Most Mercs I have driven for them were alright.

Refuel the Fridge:
Especially at the Headquarts in Heywood I was told always refuel the frigde with gas oil, never trust the gauge.

Parking brake:
Use the parking brake when dropping a trailer and apply it. They had quite a few incidents were trailers „run away“, I was told and got shown some photos.

Other………
If you‘re dropping a loaded trailer in one of their depots you normally don‘t need to bother with putting it on electric etc. The shunter will sort it for you > or it was the case in most depots where I went on nights.
It even said something like, in the induction forms I had to sign for the agency.

„Be aware of Agency Personell handling electric equipment and switching diesel/electric mode on running frigde trailers [emoji15]
Let only Yearsley Staff switch modes, make sure you’re trained etc.“ [emoji15]

I always had to fill a form a the start of my shift in, regarding

  • when your last shift was
  • how many reduced rests you had in this week etc.

Also you get time to De-Kit after you arrived back in the depot. They normally want you to wash a Unit and the rear doors over, refuel etc.
Some of the staff didn‘t bother with the whole washing down. Each to their own.

If you don‘t know anything ask + have a safe and good time there.

golden rules.
check fridge fuel
check temp on notes
check temp on fridge before leaving yard
check it just before you go in to tip
always bombard your office for instructions regarding any temp discrepancy.
make sure the buck gets passed back the othe office.
if its all correct and it goes ■■■■ up then you have proof positive its out of your remit.
its easypeasy now with mobile phones to take a pic as your day unfolds to prove fridge readings if required. apart from that,its a doddle.

As above all good advice.
If vehicle has a printer, also make sure you take a printout of your temp before you unload anywhere and before you open your doors.
I worked with fridges for years and the only times I ever had a problem was when they have probed the goods 20 mins after unloading me and left the stuff sitting outside before probing it. Printout proves you have done your part.
If you get refused due to a probe fail, ask to see them do it in front of you. Can be faulty equipment or badly trained monkeys at fault, but often there is no reasoning with them anyway.
Once got a load refused, probe guy claimed temp was 15°c.
I explained that the last time these chickens had seen 15°c, they were alive and flapping. Showed them proof of journey temp since I had taken them out of blast chiller at slaughterhouse 6 hours ago and it was a constant 1-3°c the whole journey till they opened the doors. Refused to let me see them probe it, refused to let me use my own probe, all due to H&S. Load refused but I got paid twice as the customer sent the exact same load in the next day lol