Ive used ratchet straps & sheets when I ve loaded steel in the past, & thankfully nothing ever moved. I’d always use chafe straps too, & put cardbard under those as well, just in case.
It never fails to amaze me the amount of steel on lorries that is strapped down with ratchets with nothing under it to protect it from rubbing! 
T.■■
Thanks everyone 
. Today was a good day except
for the tacho not recording as there was no card in
slot 2. I had 7 drops around the midlands area and
the load was sheets of steel wrapped in card board
and strapped to pallets and there was some big bars
and large metal strips. Everything was well covered
and strapped up and never moved. I have 3 drops
tomorrow st helens, oldham, manchester
nice to hear you had a good day convoy
no card in slot 2 ■■? first time ive heard of that one
or do you mean you put the tacho in slot2
good to hear it when well i all ways find some strips of rubber work a treat to cushion between trailer and the steel and also it is all skidded with timber as well and keep out of the way when a crane driver is taking steel off your wagon, coz if all goes wrong you will have now where to run i know i also am a crane driver and have seen it happen so many times , but hope all goes well 
BLADE 918:
keep out of the way when a crane driver is taking steel off your wagon, coz if all goes wrong you will have now where to run
Tell me about it 
. I have a lovely big scar on my finger which, but for the excellent emergency work done at Okehampton Cottage Hospital and the operating skills of Devon & Exeter, should have been missing these past 27 years.
This was caused by a crane driver’s mistake and panic, but fair enough, I was standing too close - like on the chassis of the unit with my hands resting on the headboard 
Salut, David.
Here is the second lesson
I loaded in the Rod mill last week and strapped my 11 coils as I have done for the past year or so, 1 strap every 2nd coil pulling them together.
Then the H & S man walked past and suggested his way, actually he made me start again. After using 11 straps on 11 coils he gave me my paperwork back to leave the gatehouse 
I also had to put my hard hat on with a chin strap, although I was outside the loading area, well away from any overhead hazard and not allowed to climb on my own trailer
I got as far as Leicester Forest and had to refasten the load, this time my way! In the post this weekend we have been sent a memo reminding us how to secure the coils, funny how it agrees with my way and not the idea of an H & S man
Wheelnut, when you are next in the factory loading give him the sites mentioned here inthe useful links spot and ask him to look , read,digest , and
take to heart what is printed and explained on these sites,
Pete, the problem with these blokes is that they think every lorry driver is too stupid to load his own vehicle. they do not understand the forces that a loaded truck is put under, they dont understand that times and technology are changing.
Our problem with this particular steelworks is that we do a customer collection so really have no contract with the uk company, we have to abide by their site rules, ie, no smoking, hard hats and safety goggles, earplugs etc. but the actual securing of the steel is dictated by our customer in France. It is then who have issued the memo on how to secure their steel, their methods are the same as mine.
The problem with the steelworks method is that the product moves and gets marked and eventually rusts. This is not good for the manufacture of tyres.
We have a meeting with the managers from our French office about this and other items.
The local shunters loading the stand trailers only use one or two straps per trailer but nothing is said to them
well then Wheelnut I take it when you are in france and haveing discussions with these managers you will explain your side of the problem and enquire if they are prepared to incurr the extra costs that this is bringing due to the mismanagement an wrong H&S being carried out
when loading according to the loading fims H&S EXPERT■■?
NA ALL THE BEST AND I HOPE SOME ONE SEES SENSE AND SORTS THE PROBLEM OUT;
bit late now, but heres my t’pence worth, in eight months of working full time out of corus steels in rotherham i’ve never seen a chain used on any type of steel,all straps. all h & s men have to justify their existence and attempt to do so by ignoring h & s as written by the hse and come up with their own ridiculouse ideas instead, i.e a plastic hat with a chin strap and a plastic pair of glasses is perfectly adequate protection when you litterally put your life in the hands of a crane operator, who could be half cut from the night before for all you know! wheelnut where you workin from with coils? corus stipulate five straps per load, think maybe this safety bloke needs a bit of retraining! on another point, have you heard about the new core operator system coming in january, one haulier covering corus nation wide?
paul b:
bit late now, but heres my t’pence worth, in eight months of working full time out of corus steels in rotherham i’ve never seen a chain used on any type of steel,all straps. all h & s men have to justify their existence and attempt to do so by ignoring h & s as written by the hse and come up with their own ridiculouse ideas instead, i.e a plastic hat with a chin strap and a plastic pair of glasses is perfectly adequate protection when you litterally put your life in the hands of a crane operator, who could be half cut from the night before for all you know! wheelnut where you workin from with coils? corus stipulate five straps per load, think maybe this safety bloke needs a bit of retraining!
Five straps per load? I can only assume this would be on a load of, say ,wire rod in coil, because it certainly wouldn’t meet Corus’s specification on sheet coils. They have a minimum of 4 per coil, easily equating to 12 straps on a single load.
I agree H&S men all have a job to do, but the majority of rules are written on the assumption that drivers have no brains 
on another point, have you heard about the new core operator system coming in january, one haulier covering corus nation wide?
No I hadn’t heard. Do spill the beans, so that I know whether to start looking for another job. 
yes, wire coils it is.
as for the haulage contract thing, as from jan the 1st there will be one “core” operator for corus engineering steels i.e stocksbridge, rotherham, wednesbury bright bar and the three stockholders. apparently this is to tie in with a new system of one sales office taking all orders and dispatching from whatever plant suits hence the need for one haulage firm to deal with, it’s a massive contract for who ever gets it. corus have had a firm in called tdg i believe, who have assesed all the firms tendering for the job, wether any one firm in at the moment would be big enough to take it all on is a different thing!
who you driving for?
Kate:
Five straps per load? I can only assume this would be on a load of, say ,wire rod in coil, because it certainly wouldn’t meet Corus’s specification on sheet coils. They have a minimum of 4 per coil, easily equating to 12 straps on a single load.
How things have changed. When I was tramping (finding my own loads) with Midlands Storage in the 70s I often used to load sheet coils from Samuel Williams in Dagenham Dock. I only had 2 chains, and straps weren’t invented. When I had used the chains it was then ropes, plenty of them and double hitched with a lot of packing. Never lost a one, but then I did drive accordingly .
With wire coils it was just ropes and sheets but with timbers nailed down the full length of the trailer. If I’d seen the initials H & S in those days I would have thought it was just another haulage firm, what was their number, and what kind of loads did they sub? 
Salut, David.
paul b:
wheelnut where you workin from with coils? corus stipulate five straps per load, think maybe this safety bloke needs a bit of retraining! on another point, have you heard about the new core operator system coming in january, one haulier covering corus nation wide?
Couple of points here, our work is international so doesnt come under the scope of a core haulier, as previously posted we do a customer collection service! The coils we collect are 2tonne each so do not need 4 or 5 straps per coil.
We have to protect the coils from rubbing against each other and we have to chock them all, that is the customers wish
Another job we do is a large Stainless Steel manufacturer in Sheffield and their entire transport operation is run by Christian Salvesan, including the crane drivers and operators
think we’re talking about totally different coils, those out of rotherham are just drawn steel unfinnished, maybe three ton per coil. this contract thing won’t effect anyone who dosn’t work directly for corus and of coarse it’s four months away and that’s plenty of time for them to have a rethink, they seem to alter major plans on the stroke of pen sometimes.
Well thats my 2 weeks done for asd at sheffield
delivering metal products ect. I started on monday
22/08/2005 at 07:00 hours and was given keys to
a mercedes truck where I did the checks ect and
strapped the load. I had 7 drops from leicester to
mansfield and a few places had tight streets and
reverses. I had to change the order of drops as
they wanted me to do newark than go back to nottingham.
I finished at 18:00 hours.
On tuesday I had 4 drops on around manchester and
surrounding areas but had to bring one back as I could
not get a match for the post code and address in my sat
nav so after a few calls to the company I was doing the
work for and was keep getting passed on to different
people ect. They said they dont have that company’s name
or any details on the computer and to bring it back. I
finished at 14:00 hours
Wednesday I started at 07:00 hours again and had about
9 drops on including that one that I bought back yesterday
but this time with a different address details. I did not have
correct details of my first drop so I got to the area and asked
someone who sent me to a sign shop and a young woman
answered the door and I believe she was a goth. She said
this was not the place but they had some mail for them and
she went and asked her boss where it was. She came back
with this reply my boss said it just up the road and my reply
was which road as there was about 4 more. She said I dont
know and he did not say so I said I will fined it and thanks
anyway. I phoned my agency and gave him the post code
and address to check it on auto route but it did not recognise
it so he phoned directory enquiries and called me back with
the correct address details ect and I found it as I was about
2 minutes away. The rest of the drops went ok except for that
one I bought back yesterday which could not match up again
so I phoned asd up and asked them for the correct details
and they said they could not help. I said if they phone
directory enquiries they maybe able to help. He phoned
directory enquiries and gave me the company’s telephone
number which I phoned and got the address details and
did the drop. I finished today at 20:00 hours as I got held up
on the m62 and woodhead and had quite a few drops to do.
I took a reduest rest as the next day I had to be in at 06:30
and for the rest of the days working for them.
The rest of the 2 weeks was just about the same. I had the
mercedes truck and the daf cf and covered manchester,
bolton, liverpool, halifax and a few more places. Some
drops where to units on industrial estates and others where
to shops on busy height streets with yellew lines outside
and the worst one to find was 54b which was a blokes
garage that he did sign making in and was behind some
shops on a busy high street.
On my last day me and another agency driver was the only
2 trucks going out at 06:30 as the rest had already gone in
the early hours on a big job. This other agency driver did not
have any maps or hi-viz ect and had 4 drops around doncaster
and was not back when I left at 15:00 hours. Also I splashed
my shoes, jeans, gloves and hi viz in diesel and had the
window down a bit while driving all day and think it must of
gone through my gloves as I rubbed my eye and it stinged for
about a minute or to.
And some pics -
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13060
alix776:
no card in slot 2 ■■? first time ive heard of that one
or do you mean you put the tacho in slot2
Sorry alix776 for not posting sooner and I have just
noticed your post. This tacho you put tacho 2 under
a plastic flap and if your not careful you can scratch
the tacho chart face on a bit of metal and chart one
goes on the top of the plastic and you know if its
correct if the amber light is not flashing also this
amber light comes on about 52mph even though
the limiter is set at 56mph. I asked one of there
drivers and he said it because there is no tacho
in slot 2 and when he put a chart in slot 2 it stopped
the amber light flashing and worked everyday that I
had it for.
Convoy when you use a tacho-disic in the 2nd drivers position make sure that you have written on the disic to make sure that when you get a check they do not think (heavens forbid) that you are cheating and useing TWO DISICS;;
some think like This is not for working use ,or words to that effect,
convoy:
alix776:
no card in slot 2 ■■? first time ive heard of that one
or do you mean you put the tacho in slot2Sorry alix776 for not posting sooner and I have just
noticed your post. This tacho you put tacho 2 under
a plastic flap and if your not careful you can scratch
the tacho chart face on a bit of metal and chart one
goes on the top of the plastic and you know if its
correct if the amber light is not flashing also this
amber light comes on about 52mph even though
the limiter is set at 56mph. I asked one of there
drivers and he said it because there is no tacho
in slot 2 and when he put a chart in slot 2 it stopped
the amber light flashing and worked everyday that I
had it for.
You dont need a card in slot 2 if you are not double manning though, If the lights are flashing the tacho needs synchronising. To do this remove both cards, close the drawer and let it go through its sequence. then reopen the drawer and place your card in slot 1