Aint had much experiences of curtain siders… much prefer box trailers…
Them boxes of doggie biscuits are gonna get damaged someway or other, even by stacking like that and you would have thought they would have some corner protection… so that strapping down wouldn’t be such a pain in the arse…
So by going what ppl have said about VOSA, gonna need to have enough straps, step ladders and a metal rod of some sort to push the strap through the base of second stack … or carry enough of you own corner protectors so that you can throw 1 strap over
If they’d just shrink wrap on edge protectors on 50% of their pallets. i.e. those to go on the top. It would be so easy to just throw a ratchet strap over each stack.
What are drivers doing about this issue when the load is tight to the roof?
G6Bob:
Don’t strap it!!!.. Then drive erratically past my house, hopefully shedding you load, saving me a fortune in pets at home, my wee pooch loves them bonio biscuits lol
Yeah, I’d have strapped them too
Speaking of, like the profile pick G6bob, is that your pooch?
Ideally they could come up with plastic spreaders that run along the edges and spread the point loading of straps/ ropes. This would eventually be as part and parcel of the trailer equipment as the curtains or straps. I think the legislation is wheeled out before the transport industry adapts with practices, as always. It’s probably a mix of reluctance and old habits but it’s typical of the rule enforcers to trumpet things blinkerdly without the insight to going to the industry and consultate on realistic solutions before enforcing them.
peirre:
I just pulled 52 pallets of detol and cillit bang cleaner out of derby, and I strapped each stack, but I am paid by the hour so I take my time doing it.
Sometimes the loaders will thread the straps through the block on every 2nd stack, but on this load they threaded thru the block on the back 2.
When you got to the collection. Did the loader introduce himself-“HI, I’M BARRY”
I’m a big fan of using anti-gravity straps whenever possible but I think even I would use the internals to give a bit of restraint to that load. The strap rail is close enough to the edge to not cause any damage to those anyway. Tall loads like that where the top has potential to slide off or fall over I’ll generally strap in due to basic common sense. If they were only 1 layer high I wouldn’t bother, personally.
End of the day it’s your licence and your pocket that any fine will be coming out of so you’re well within your rights to strap it if that’s what you want to do.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well I would try pulling the straps through the bottom of the top pallet then it could be tightened down without doing any damage, IMO, then the internal straps used for the top ones,Regards Larry.[/quo And how are we getting up there to old for that here…
Why don’t they wrap the pallets in vertical stacks of two? They are loading them in stacks of two.
Then you could just pass straps through the pallets at the bottom and tie them down with no risk of the stack falling over or the product being damaged.
Mrmack65:
Two internal straps knotted together across the the back of the back pallets and off you go never move Toot Toot
Experience and common sense is irrelevant these days unfortunately. If you divert from what it says on the matrix that VOSA use then they can make some money out of you if you get stopped. Not strapping the load they way they say leaves yourself wide open to a fine even if you know it’ll never move in a million years.
Lots of info here on curtain siders:
To protect drivers and other road users,
the (Road Vehicles) Construction & Use
Regulations 1986 indicate that loads must
be secured, if necessary by physical restraint
other than their own weight, so they don’t
present a danger or nuisance.
Curtains are only to protect the load from the weather unless they are load rated curtains.
Own Account Driver:
Idiots like their little health and safety rules. Only an idiot that knew nothing about load security would think you can do so by using a little table like VOSA’s.
Any sensible or experienced person would realise in actual fact strapping that load would make it less not more secure.
This “idiot” has driven trucks for 25 years, in Europe, Africa, Canada and the USA without losing a load. I’ve probably forgotten more about load security than you’ll ever know. If you looked at the table properly, you’d realise that it doesn’t tell the driver how to secure loads, it tells the enforcement officer how to assess a load. Only if a vehicle and load falls into the prohibit category on the table, should a prosecution be brought. The big problem now is that nobody challenges VOSA in court.
Bang on the money Sayersy. Also to note, that if a risk assesment is done by a comany and carried, and of course shown to the driver then he will not have these questions anyway, and it also removes any doubt from lesser experienced persons as to what constitues safe for the particular load carried (assuming of course its a regular load).
If this little lot, and many other products too, had a sheet of MDF covering the top of the pallet and banded to it or shrink wrapped inside, then there would be no problem about crush damage and it could be secured with ratchet straps. This is exactly how some of the packaging blanks have been transported for some years. But… the boxes on the bottom layer of the bottom pallet need to be strong enough. Honeydew melons in cardboard boxes loaded 12 or 14 high used to go all over the place if the bottom boxes even got a whiff of dampness.
5RRF:
Put internal strap over top pallet as usual…[zb] the damage.Then they might just address the problem
Would you send a parcel in a paper bag? of course not, you would wrap it securely and the same should apply to the loads carried by hauliers. I used to carry tins of baked beans etc. and on many occasions the cling film didn’t even reach the pallet, let alone keep the cases on it.
Some would argue if these companies don’t want there product damage during transit, then they would have done a better job in there own packaging i.e. corner protectors etc etc…
But then the driver will cop the blame when a certain percentage is rejected at the delivery due to damage
