Can anyone give me some safety tips on how to open a door of a trailer without having something from the load falling out on me? Another driver had a bad experience where the rolls shifted, he opened the first door with no problem, but when he opened the second door, a roll hit him in the shoulder and broke all of the vertebrates in his neck. How can I prevent that from happening?

Learn how to drive right. You have freight back there you arn't just cruising.

there isn't much you can do in that instance I guess other than to look behind the door befor eyou open it. The first door you can open while standing of to the side

I agree that it has more to do with the driving and not how to open the doors. The only time I had a load shift is when I had to make an emergency brake and even then the freight will be at the front of trailer not the back. If you drive sensibly you shouldn't have problems with freight shifting. However, I would still advise opening the doors cautiously.

"If you drive sensibly you shouldn't have problems with freight shifting." ???
How wrong is that? Many loads are not well secured, the shipper will not correct the problem, and the driver knows there will be trouble when he opens the doors. I have had loads of scrap paper in vans that looked like trouble, and I was lucky to get the doors closed in the first place. At the destination, I backed the van into the building where trash trucks dump, opened one door at a time and let the load fall out. Of course, with some trailers the driver will have to unlatch both doors to get the first one open. How about pre-loaded, sealed trailers? The delivering driver does not know what to expect. I was a smooth driver (before I retired) with thirteen years hauling beer before the breweries standardized on bulk-heads and unitized loads. Case beer was loaded according to the driver's load pattern to distribute the weight. This resulted in six or more single pallets secured by nothing more than cardboard dunnage between pallets, and nothing on the sides. The loads called for taking it easy when entering driveways or crossing railroad tracks where the tracks were not perpendicular to the road. My former employer still says that I never spilled any beer. Common carriers, on the other hand, brought in many disasters and claims were filed accordingly. The basic problem is that the drivers did not know how to load beer or how to drive it. The responsible driver will use load locks or rope, or air bags provided by the shipper. After that, if it falls, it falls. There are places to drive slow, and places to make time. I'm trying to say that if the load is not loaded correctly, the most sensible driving will not save it.

That sounds about right, all companies have good and bad things about them, as a driver, you have to learn this stuff, you should always be prepared for things falling at the back doors, unless you know how it is loaded, if there are about eighteen skids in the truck, there is not much room for falling stuff, however, if you are wrong, you could be dead wrong.
drive55cat

Why would you haul a load that you know isn't loaded right? Either they get it right or they get it off my trailer. I've told more than one shipper that, they didn't like it and it almost cost me my job once but I wasn't having it.

this is something I hadn't really thought about, but I am glad I read this thread....

I will really be checking the loads as I open the doors carefully.

thanks for the info.....

__________________


WCD

____________________
snipers change history!!

when you go to open the first door move the latches and before you as you un latch them keep waking accross the trailer so when the door is fully unlatched you arnt behind it also you can normaly open the center latch on the first door (on doors with 2 latches per door) and get a crack to look in to check the door then open the out side latch. if you go through a company as a new driver that should be shown to you

__________________
Pumpkin Driver - we got problems but so does every one else
Army Driver
"Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal." tupac

Stand to the side of the door the way it opens. Plant your feet and open one door at a time.

Stand so that you can run from a 90 degree angle from the door, if the freight should happen to fall out.

Use the door as a block.

__________________

I agree medicineman. Alot of it has to do with your driving. You should be driving like your hauling eggs all the time.For a load to shift back like that. You must be taking off very fast or your braking hard and causing the momentum for the shift to happen. Have you considered using loadlocks? I know sometimes its hard too if its preloaded and sealed already. Also, if your at the shipper and the pallets look loose. Request they shrink wrap them. Even if they tell you its not going anywhere. Just remind them, Are they gonna pay for the damages? In a nice way of course !!!