dry van load securment

You would be surprised about how some loads are put into vans and reefers! I had to haul a fork lift from 1 warehouse to another and only had 2 load locks to "secure it!" Well the parking brakes apparently did not work on the thing and the last stop light I was at was on a steep hill, When I stopped the fork lift driver looked in his mirror and said that the door was open on the trailer. I set the brakes and we walked to the back and both doors were hanging on by the top hinge and the stupid fork lift was sitting on the ground upside down and leaking battery acid down the hill!

They actually suspended me while they "investigated" the incident and after 3 days I quit and went back on the road! It turned out that they tried to say that I didn't secure the fork lift but I argued that 2 load locks aren't made to hold a 3 ton fork lift! Plus the repair shop found the parking brakes didn't work either so I wasn't written up to DAC! But the did put down that they would rehire me! Go figure!

 

Dry Van Load Securement
Wood
Nails
Hammer
Crow Bar

 

That's why I have a van with chain ties in the floor. Granted I've never pulled it but their there if you need them.

 

I opened the sealed doors of a dry van to find, 2 minivans inside-unsecured !!!!!!!!

 

FYI, most van drivers have zero training whatsoever in cargo securement. Its usually the shippers job.

I carry six van straps (im supposed to have 2 but sometimes i pick up dropped trailers and get them when i get unloaded, sometimes i do it the other way and leave them in sealed dropped trailers..). All werner trailers have places to hook straps on. Some have the ugly round things on the side of the trailer, you just stick a hook on it and hook it on, which SUCK because you cant properly strap beer in, and beer is usually what i have to strap. Others have bars down the sides that have slots in them, and the straps snap into the slots with a cool latch. We don't carry load locks, but straps generally do a better job than load locks and take less space on my truck. They also cost nearly twice as much as load locks!

Most loads dont get anything, its just heavy enough to stay put or only slide a few inches. But when i haul beer, it gets strapped. If its an LTL load delivering to stores, it gets strapped, because its usually lots of light boxes...tippy!. If its hazmat, it gets nailed in with boards, and I only carry a hammer, not nails and boards!

Allow Me, you don't need legs. It would've been fine if it shifted and crushed your legs.

 

I would have fired you on the spot and made you walk home! If you can't feel a fork lift roll out the back of your trailer and rip 2 doors off, you need to find a new profession.

 

KMA!
Me or the fork lift driver never felt the thing move! And it really doesn't take much to take a door off of a trailer when it weighs in at 3 tons! At least it didn't come out while moving and land on a car!

And as I said it wasn't my fault. I did EXACTLY what the owner said to do.

And 2 pissant aluminum load locks aren't worth crapola holding a 3 ton lift back! They were under the steer tire doubled up which was the BEST I could have hoped for!

And I bet YOU wouldn't have felt it go either! 65' away, windows rolled up, AC,CB and FM on and traffic noise! Year I guess I should have heard the thing go through the doors or felt it in that old POS KW vibrating like a woman's toy!

Not a big deal! Had a new job the next week!

Here's to you