Truck Driver Killed by his load 4-22-16

The guys here, in this forum, are like me. They're problem solvers. They can 'think on their feet.' We are paid to solve shipping problems. This is how we make our money. If you can pick it up, we can haul it and haul it safely. It's what we do. I started out hauling pipe and coil and structural steel. Simply put and I cant think of any way to say it simpler: If a load shifts, it was improperly secured. Talk about headache racks and headboards stopping the load from going through the cab are moot. Better through the cab than off the trailer.

"Is there a better way of securing pipe and coil, Six?"

@rank was referring to choking the load at the front. Why? Prevent it from moving in the first place. Excellent! I am all for it. Someone posted some info about that Load Choker thing that they use in Australia and Europe. I've been waiting for them to make them for America. Makes me sick to think that they have something that cool down under and we don't. @Ozdriver, I hate you. Use a Load Choker and choke down the front of pipe and structural steel. It wouldn't be able to move. Especially if you did a choke and a rear pull. Use a Load Choker with a suicide coil. Throw your chains to the eye, but use the Choker to do 2 direct securements to the sides and back for rear pull. Suicide coils always have indirect securement. But a direct securement with something like a Load Choker? If someone wants to fabricate something, why not fab up something useful?

 

Oh I've hauled steel. I have 51,000lbs of it in a trailer right now sitting next to me in my storage lot, that I personally own (machinery).
I haven't hauled pipe, or coils. That was not my profession, but I'm trying to learn about it.
I'm just posting this to clarify. I don't want to get dragged back into the popularity party where free thought is threatening.

 

There is a lesson in Six's comment about never seeing a heavy hauler in the escape ramp that will apply to all of the above comments. Breaking over a hill & starting down the other side with 200K gross should give even the most experienced hand butterflies. Drivers that do heavy hauling got there by being FOCUSED. Weather you are hauling a coil, structural steel, pipe or any other cargo that can kill you, staying focused is the absolute key to survival. I would bet in "alot" of the killer pipe & coil wrecks, inattention, forgetting you had a deadly load played a major role in the incident. I have hauled alot of old, dead tractors that did not have a brake to set. Those got secured different than other stuff. Relying on a green book to tell you how to chain a D-9H with no brakes will kill you. You secure & drive according to what is on the deck. Waiting for a shipper to make a change or waiting for the FEDs to do another 10 yr. study is not an option. I wont ever have to, but if I had to haul coils or slick steel, staying 100% focused is what in the end, will get me home.

 

Speaking only for myself, I see it as a multi pronged approach.
You need to of course stay 100% focused, but that is no substitute for not doing the best you can to secure the load.
The reverse is also true, seeking out securements that make you safer is not a substitute for being focused.
Both disciplines need to be followed, and trying to improve one does not mean that you are neglecting the other.

 

I like that!

 

This was the point I was trying to make. I dont communicate well. When all else is done properly, and you leave the gate, you have to have your mind right or you will die. Regulations, chains, headache racks, cradles etc. will not save a fool.

 

It's nifty device and thank you for posting that.
Putting our differences aside though Six, I am trying to picture what you are describing for using this on coil as a direct securement?

 

That's the whole thing. Those that end up with a load through the cab do not even follow the book. The load in the original post was not properly secured. No amount of regulation or legislation is going to make sure it is all there. People are going to take short cuts. These are the ones that either end up dead or killing someone else.

You can build whatever kind of headboard you want to save the driver but that is not going to keep his load on the trailer if he/she is still under securing it. Take a look at the load photo again....

Just going by this photo alone I see 3 loose straps from the top layer. There may be others that we cannot see. The glaring thing that I see is absolutely no edge protection. We already have a regulation on the books that states that straps must be protected from sharp edges. Yet this driver did not put any on there.

There are no loose edge protectors on the trailer or on the ground. And for even more proof, there are no edge protectors on the straps holding the bottom layer of steel either.

There is nothing that any government entity could have done to prevent this from happening. It is all on the driver. It looks to me like he had enough WLL to cover the load but just barely and no edge protection and we all know how sharp squared edges of steel can be.

The same goes for the coils with a headboard or some sort of rack for the coil. Neither one will keep that coil from coming off the back or sides of the trailer if there are not enough chains holding the coil.

Why should everyone else suffer from the ignorance of a few?

Yeah it is a sad day when someone dies or is killed by a careless driver. But we cannot do anything about them not doing the work properly except what we are already doing with the DOT inspections.

I agree that the green book is only a guide but with that the guide is also the minimum requirements. I have extra chains on my loads all the time. The guys that are on top of the game do this all the time, just like you do.

I once moved a 68k loader and had 60k worth of securement because the parking brake did not work. In these photos of a 330d that I moved. The thing weighs in at 80k and I have 56k worth of securement not counting the boom and bucket chians. 4 each 1/2" chains and 4 each 3/8" chains just holding the machine to the trailer. One chains loosens and it is not that big of a deal but at 40k of securement, if one chain comes loose then you are under secured.


Not only are the tracks cross chained but the 3/8" chains helps to prevent the excavator from turning on the deck and applies downward pressure.

Myself, you and many others on here do this. Maybe not to the extreme that I did but more regulations are not going to make the next guy do it like I do.

I don't haul coils but I have hauled steel and I do haul a lot of precast concrete and equipment. All of which can easily come off the trailer. Maybe not roll but a box culvert on a flatbed is very top heavy. A lot of guys put the minimum on them but I always throw extra. It makes me more comfortable.

Not picking on your comment specifically as you did not mention anything except the green book. The point being is that we already have regulations that will keep loads on the trailer. Those regulations fail when the driver fails to do his/her job properly. That driver could have had 10 more straps on that load and it still could have failed because he did not have edge protection and it simply cut the straps.

 

Could almost do a makeshift one of those using a couple slip hooks...just need a longer pin to hold 'em together and do something like this:

I know these ain't slip hooks...just what I had laying around...but you get the idea. Probably ought to use G70 and a size larger than the chain you're using to make 'em, just to be certain they'd hold...I always like to err on the side of "more than sufficient" as opposed to "not quite up to the task", especially when my rear is on the line.

Not sure what the DOT would say about something like that, though, so I'd probably use this IN ADDITION TO the normal securement routine.

Hell, I think next time I'm at the store I might just pick up some slip hooks...

 

Stamped on grade and WLL, it would be good in all of north America.
That would work! Reverend Bulldog! Thank you!
Use a pair of G70 Machine hooks for half inch chain. And the pivot might even make it work better around angles. I will try it.

@MJ1657 if you dont mind, pass Reverend Dog's pic on to the Wizard and get his thoughts.