Been sat at a delivery today for 7 hours and 2 different drivers have drop and swaps and pulled pin 1st after trailer brake and not once they’ve done legs and lines
So when did the training change ?
dunno where that came from… first thing is always trailer brake whether split coupling or normal.
I did see a video a while back in a docks somewhere i think where they specifically said not to set the trailer brake. i did start a thread on it somewhere.
1 was Drop it hide it lose it and other was useless parcel service
correct me if im wrong but aren’t they both timed to the split second. havent got time to piss out the window
But also seen one of my co-workers do it in our yard a week after a message was put out not to do it
The Norm? Training?
Dunno what training they had, but I guess they are ignoring training, and forgetting good sense if pulling the pin too early.
I learned that the hard way at 21 years old, and the unit and trailer were on an angle 
Jumped out of cab, pulled pin to see this bloody great flat trailer loaded with steel coming towards me, being a young fit lad I did a spectacular acrobatic type back flip to get away from it…then walked to the office for a severe bo11ocking.
Seen it happen, whilst an agency driver was being assessed…. He was asked to leave the site ASAP. And not the only one apparently
I was never taught anything, having my licence before testing was required but I had worked out from day 1 that it was a silly thing to do. Never touch the pin until everything else was done.
But I know why some do it and it is down to European length laws which leave little or no room to stand between the trailer and the airlines, even less so with a fridge motor in the way.
A mate here nearly lost my trailer, he had had it for some reason and we were told to swap back.
In “split coupling” there is a way to get between cab and trailer….reasonably…. safely. It is what I did when using close coupled trailers and especially fridges.
Short version only…
When dropping, trailer brake on, legs down, pull pin, pull forward half a metre, drop air lines, pull fully out.
The longer version is about putting air suspension up or down, dog clips, number plates etc, but I am sure you get the gist. This is not a training manual!
Yes I know how it can be done but I always thought the best failsafe method, bearing in mind you might get distracted by someone or something, was to leave cab, climb on chassis do the airlines then off and walk around the whole trailer doing everything required as I passed it and finally, just before jumping back into the cab, pull the pin. That way I always knew that the last thing I ever did was the pin.
I never had a real problem with the fridge, the first time I had one was here, but maybe I was slimmer than you. 
I’ve never been mistaken for a flat race jockey, but I ain’t that bad!
Newer trailers now have MAVIS rails, but the fridges I dealt with didn’t. They were close cou[pled, and with no air taps it was necessary to do a split couple to have enough space so one could “lean in” against the full line pressure.
++++
At Lambert’s, in the late ‘70’s, one driver who was quite new to the company was parking up, and dropping his trailer. Roy, the yard foreman called out to him to shunt it up a bit tighter to the other one….yep, classic interrupted situation…he pulled forward to do a shunt, the loaded trailer pushed down on the Atki run up ramps and shot the unit forward…where it hit a diesel tank….
And at that moment Ray Lambert was walking across the yard…. he stopped dead…turned on his heel and went into the office…..
A half hour later the driver (Ken) was in the office. A very stiff dressing down, but he kept his job and stayed there some years.
New to me, but is that something that allows the airlines to be accessed from the ground at the side? Well overdue if so, by many years, the previous method was insupportable on safety grounds. In the States they do not have this problen because, sensibly, it is the trailers that are limited in length and not the overall measurement which can leave a big gap between even an American sleeper and the trailer. Sometimes I think they over do it bearing in mind the increased air turbulence and thus increaed running costs.
Trailer brakes/red line and legs.If the old mechanical winch type cable trailer brakes check it again after red line.Get moaned at by shunters for using it defeating the object of roller legs for tight parked trailers.