Got back to the yard tonight,to be given a 5page memo by boss,stateing as from 1st next month h and s will be ut with vosa checking on loads to see if the are tied on properly.I said if i get a young officer come and tell me its not right i going to tell where to get off.
Ask him to show you how it should be done, then point out where he’s going wrong.
All loads will weigh a certain amount, all load securement equipment has a load rating, if you’ve got 28tons in the back it needs to be held down with something with a breaking strain of at least 28tons, simple really, if you rely on gravity to stop your load shifting they will nick you.
on that basis six 5t straps secures any load, we all know dependent on what your carrying you could need at least double that and more.
im sorry lads but h/s has gone [zb] stupid just lately, the load is the drivers responseablaty and as such is up to him and him alone to decide how to tie it down and surcure it not some wanna be cop 
Surely a shed load is more likely to be caused by over aggressive driving than the load being insecure?
As said I hope they’re gonna use experienced guys for the checks and not freshers who’ve just read a textbook
rorykk:
im sorry lads but h/s has gone [zb] stupid just lately, the load is the drivers responseablaty and as such is up to him and him alone to decide how to tie it down and surcure it not some wanna be cop
That would make sense in a perfect world, but alas, we don’t live in one, I, like many of you have loaded all kinds of freight in curtainsiders & tilts & relied on gravity & a flimsy curtain to stop it all falling off, so far I’ve been lucky, so the odds of anything going wrong are minimal to say the least, I’ve knocked out a good 2 million miles, most of it with at least 20tons behind me & never had anything fall off (except a pallet of jam, but that’s a whole different story) The thing is we would never load this stuff on a flat trailer without securing it properly, so why should we do it in a curtainsider? This new ruling does make sense, it’s a pain in the arse for sure, but it still makes sense, the Germans have been doing it for a few years now, I very much doubt it’s resulted in any less stuff falling off of lorries, but it sure hasn’t caused any more to fall off
Not realy knowing much about curtainsiders… don’t they have straps attached to the roof that you tie around pallets or something 
If so then there isn’t realy much of an excuse.
It is nothing new and has been brought in because of the daily story of loads falling off lorries and blocking road, it is nothing new and we always had to fasten loads on, it just seems the newer drivers think a pvc curtain or a single rope hook is sufficient to hold a load on.
hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr662.pdf
There is some nice bedtime reading in the link
removalboy:
Not realy knowing much about curtainsiders… don’t they have straps attached to the roof that you tie around pallets or something
If so then there isn’t realy much of an excuse.
lazyness sonny jim. You should ken all about that sleeping till 2pm on the weekends and playing your xbox the rest of the day while mummy makes your dinner lol
He’s been portering on Saturdays and done 5 containers into store before lunch lol
out of a third floor flat with a 300 yard walk lol
alix776:
He’s been portering on Saturdays and done 5 containers into store before lunch lol
out of a third floor flat with a 300 yard walk lol
Sounds about right lol 
removalboy:
Not realy knowing much about curtainsiders… don’t they have straps attached to the roof that you tie around pallets or something
If so then there isn’t realy much of an excuse.
Roof straps are only really of any use to hold light loads like packaging materials or well shrunkwrapped pallets like bottles or jars. You cannot use them to secure machinery or IBC, drums, or MDF / Chipboard.
A curtainsider is always going to be a compromise, operators want them as light as possible, unhindered access, as much deck space as possible and as high as possible door aperture whilst still keeping under the 4.0m height limit (for Euro operations)
The problem with using roof straps, spider straps or longitudinal straps are that you need a secure fixing point, so unless you are willing to put up with extra weight centre posts or central roof supports the cant rails will bend, the front and rear bulkheads will be pulled towards each other. Until they invent skyhooks, the only secure way to fasten any load to a trailer will be to the chassis or the weight bearing members of the floor.
While I am on my soapbox. I often read about curtainsider poles being bent and ratchets broken, well that probably comes from drivers who do not really understand what the curtains are doing. The aluminium or originally wooden poles need at least one turn of material on them, the poles have to be located in the top and bottom correctly and also behind the guides on the uprights before tensioning.
Some are different and only have one guide in the centre and some use a more solid bar but the principle is the same, the tensioner turns the pole that in turn makes the curtain taut, not taut like a banjo string, just enough to stop it flapping which may even save you some money in fuel 
I have seen drivers with an extension or a large spanner trying to get more leverage to tension the curtain till it is at literally breaking point
We were informed in our monthly newsletter recently that one of our drivers had been given a PG9 for having 26 empty pallets in two stacks and not strapped.
The attitude of VOSA would seem to be that if you have straps you should use them.
Our curtainsiders are designed to retain static loads, up to the GVW of the trailer, according to the manufacturer. We carry both empty glass jars and also filled one and we are instructed to strap them all, common sense really.
how can a driver be issued with a pg9? it’s a tempory prohibition placed on a vehicle, normally lifted by a test, surely the driver just said “fair enough i’ll strap the pallets down now”?
paul b:
how can a driver be issued with a pg9? it’s a tempory prohibition placed on a vehicle, normally lifted by a test, surely the driver just said “fair enough i’ll strap the pallets down now”?
Perhaps the driver spoke out of turn, I don’t know all the circumstances of the case. Presumably it was prohibited until the driver strapped them and then lifted when VOSA were satisfied that it was safe to travel.
could be right mate, seems a bit excessive.
wonder if rope will make a come back if drivers are going to be required to secure empty pallets?
paul b:
could be right mate, seems a bit excessive.
wonder if rope will make a come back if drivers are going to be required to secure empty pallets?
Is the rope for securing the pallets or for hanging those drivers that don’t comply?
removalboy:
Not realy knowing much about curtainsiders… don’t they have straps attached to the roof that you tie around pallets or something
If so then there isn’t realy much of an excuse.
I hate them. I prefere a lot using the normal straps or poles (no pun intended 
) to secure my load 