Yesterday I was travelling along the Heartlands spinless road in Birmingham and noticed a Vauxhall Zafira parkec on a sideroad outside the Vauxhall dealers there with a smashed back end. Just along the road was a UK artic (N Mager) with a large hole in the nearside curtain
The smash had been caused by a roll of steel or possibly aluminium becoming loose in the trailer and smashing out thruogh the side, rolling along until it hit the car.
I think that this accident could have been much worse, imagine if that roll had come out at a busier roundabout on top of a car.
I passed that way a few hours later and the truck was still there, so the drivers day had been curtailed somewhat.
Something along those lines happpened to a bloke i used to wok with. He loaded this crate containing a steel printing roller in Sheffield, he secured the crate on the trailer,and then did his last drop this then left a gap betweeen the crate and headboard. Well he gets down to the hardwick doughnut at Kings lynn, and has to jam on the brakes to avoid a car, there is an almighty crash from the trailer and this roller comes straight out the side, and hits the road, luckly not anybody or anything as it weighs about a ton. A copper arrived fairly quickly and starts giving him greif, but as he pointed out the crate was still strapped hard on to the trailer, it was the contents that came out. Even the coppers agreed it was not his fault, and next time he was at this place in Sheffield, he used to go there resonably regular, they had all these diagrams and instrucion on packing and loading on the wall. so some one must have been in there, and give them grief.
The picture is from one of the sites mentioned in useful links …it is
proberly from www.tis-gdv.de . this shows some good reasons why
you should secure your load properly, as for if the driver come out
alive it is not allways stated, this type of accident is still happening for
there arestill idiots who disregard load safety. the firm next to us has lost two drivers due to this type of accident, one of the reasons is that the
headboard is not built strong enough to withstand the pressure out upon it when the load shoots foward. the load the two drivers was carrying consisted of steel pipes which had been oiled to stop them rusting–this
is a normal practise with steel factorys and this makes the load double
dangerous .we have now when it is our turn to take such a load got
in to the routine of building a false headboard which strenghthens the original and so hopefully slow down or hinder this type of accident if some thing happens.
some guy from Suffolk came into my works 20 tonne plus of ally plate not one ■■■■■■■■ it this load was in 1 tonne packs spread along the centre of the trailer
saw a 6 wheeler being tipped in Redditch left on the truck 1 pallett of light plastic thingys and 3 palletts of polymer one up against headboard then 2 behind ok it was secure but overload on front axle or what…this even when there was a sturdy supprt bar in the middle of the body which would have placed the 4 tonne of polymer on the back axles
Yes it is a good site, and also while you spoke about consequences
a few years ago one of a steeltransport firms lost two steel coils which
had been correctly secured, the vehicle in question had two tyres blow-out
and the coils due to this jumped out and left the truck, but the driver had not only used one secure method but also had the coils secured with chains together so the police after checking all the relevant points took
no action against the driver as he had done every step as laid down for the safety of his load, so this is another reason to do it right as then
you will be able to state emphatically you worked as per HSE REG,s
eddie snax:
. A copper arrived fairly quickly and starts giving him greif, but as he pointed out the crate was still strapped hard on to the trailer, it was the contents that came out. Even the coppers agreed it was not his fault,
Your mate was lucky Eddie. Some years ago a mate of mine on Econofreight was going down Archway with a low loader bearing a large machine. It was secured by chains hooked to eyes specially fitted for the purpose and stood on 4 feet. As he turned into the one way at the bottom, one of the feet broke, slewing the machine sideways and left it hanging over the side of the trailer, still secured by the chains.
He was prosecuted for having an insecure load but I was outraged and advised him to plead not guilty. Far from being insecure it was quite the opposite, otherwise it would have been sitting in the road.
Unfortunately he was a mild mannered sort of bloke and accepted his fate along with a big fine and the endorsement.
However, there is no doubt in my mind that the advent of curtainsiders has made our roads more dangerous in respect of load security. I have lost count of the times I have seen loads in curtains (and tilts) secured (or not) in a way that the same bloke wouldn’t have dreamt of on a flat. I know that curtains have certain strengths but only against loads pressed against them (and then only to a degree) but cargo already on the move is deadly.
I collected a few fruit machines for a delivery company & was amazed when they congratulated me on using straps, seems like NONE of thier drivers EVER use them.
Also a local steel company only uses straps & not chains.
brit pete:
The picture is from one of the sites mentioned in useful links …it is
proberly from www.tis-gdv.de . this shows some good reasons why
you should secure your load properly,
A good site to read,
That is the sensible difference between Germany and the UK
In germany there are no grey areas, only Black and White, Right or Wrong.
Unfortunately we have no such thing. An untrained 25 year old police constable can decide whether a load is secure, or whether you drove around a roundabout too fast.
Load security only comes with on job training and experience though. We get many memos from customers telling the driver how to secure their products. i.e no chains to be used on steel coils, only webbing straps with padding. Pallets must not be strapped, No straps to be used on paper coils etc
As far as I know driver was un hurt what the picture don’t show is that what ever he was carrying land about 4 inch’s from the rear wheel of a bus carrying school kids
If its the Mager from near Immingham, I know alot of, if not most of their work is ex ferry trailers from the Humber ports so its highly likely that the driver had nothing to do with the loading of the trailer anyway. I doubt many drivers actually check whether or not their load is secured properly when they pick their trailer up from the docks, espcially if its in a knarled old tilt thats seen better days.
or what…this even when there was a sturdy supprt bar in the middle of the body which would have placed the 4 tonne of polymer on the back axles
