Opening trailer doors

Talk about literally letting the load fall out of the rear doors: I delivered a load of oil in 55-gal drums to a consignee with no loading dock. I could not believe what they told me to do. They stacked about eight old tires near the back of the trailer, and told me to roll the drums out. The truck was parked on a slight upgrade, so the only physical part for me was tipping them over and aiming them toward the tailgate. I managed to keep my toes away from each drum when it hit the floor. A moment later, it would bounce on the tires and the employees would try to set it upright before it bounced again. They had to adjust the stack of tires frequently.

 

When I first started driving (not semi) back in something like 83, I used to deliver 55 gal drums of oil in a stake bed with no lift gate. One tire on the bed to tip it over and then four tires stacked on the ground to roll the drum onto then tip it upright. For the most part it worked ok but there was a couple of times things went haywire.

As far as opening doors, sometimes you can keep the dogs still latched, or at least the outside one, and get it cracked enough to see whats behind that door. When opening I got into the habit of standing behind the door and opening it as opposed to standing off to the left, I figure its better to get knocked back by a big flat door than have something come crashing down on top of you.

 

Folks; As a former CMV driver, an FMCSA Level 1 certified inspector, and personally attending in an emergency response capacity in excess of 1,000 truck crashes and 200 tanker crashes in my career, I have seen my share of questionable and excellent loading both pre and post crash. I now serve as an expert witness both working for the plaintiff side as well as the defense side in CMV crashes and associated CMV incidents, I have therefore seen my share of freight being secured effectively regarding blocking and bracing, I have also seen nightmares in both sealed and non-sealed loads.

There is much bantered about in this chain of posts with respect to freight shifting as a result of driving habits; this in-part is only one potential causal factor into freight toppling onto a non-suspecting, or at time complacent driver or dock worker.

There are a host of other reasons for such an event to occur; they may be, but not limited to: initial loading violations as to the FMCSA Regulations part 392 and/or 393; rough road surfaces; hard brake applications, and for those sealed 20' and 40' sea containers - often, anything goes.

The one common thread to injuries as a result of a trailer or container's freight toppling, therefore causing an injury is "common sense", and this applies to every level and step within the process; the loader/shipper, driver and the dock worker, when applicable all must apply common sense.

Often a driver can not impose his common sense as an experienced driver onto a shipper that has sealed his load and loaded the container or trailer improperly. Therefore, if the load is not refused, it is incumbent upon a driver, for his/her own self preservation to use common sense and expect shifted freight. Although, even when common sense is applied a driver can become injured due to an unforseen issue.

Make every effort to be very aware of the signs of shifted freight when opening the right-side barn door, while at the same time providing self protection when cranking that door lock bar to open that same trailer door.

Once you have opened door number one (right) safely, observe the obvious freight for potential instability, then look with a purpose between the inside left door (while remaining locked) for freight that may be leaning up against that door. DO NOT OPEN that door if you see freight pressing against the left door.

At this point, go to the Shipping and Receiving management and explain that you will need an experienced forklift operator to come a provide support against the compromised door.

This post is not intended to assign fault in any toppling freight injury as each event is surrounded by facts and issues that make each event unique. Training, drugs/alcohol, visibility and most importantly, common logic all must be considered.

Remember: Confucius say; "Complacency Kills". He didn't actually say that, it just sounded good. Be safe!

 

Well it is an old thread, but was worth bumping up here.

Trailers and trailer doors have a habit of being a bit of "fun" for the rookie. High winds can make opening the barn doors interesting.

Ice and snow build up also make opening the roll up doors interesting. In my years of LTL, I've been known to have to back into the dock and use a fork lift to pry a roll up open after freight has shifted so hard it damaged the track or the rollers.

I've seen line haul come in to the dock with trailers that literally looked like they had suffered a direct hit from a tornado INSIDE! What is even more sad than that, I have observed OUTGOING trailers that looked the same way after our dock workers got done force loading them. . .

You always need to use caution when opening those doors.

 

OLD THREAD?????

Who has time to look at thread dates?

Mikeeee

 

I Keep two kinds of seals in my tool box. Most of our preloads have the seal with the paperwork so trlr can be sealed after I secure the load. In the case of a presealed trlr I ask the shipper first for permission to break the seal so I can secure the load, if refused ( never been) I would call dispatch. If I cannot look and secure first I won't haul the trlr. Case in point, I arrived at a shipper south of Atlanta and was told to drop mt and and hook preload, already loaded and sealed. I hooked and asked for to break seal to secure load and was told securment wouldnt be neccesary. I nicely but firmly made the point that I as driver should make that decision. After some passing the buck and some grumbling I was accompanyed by a "superviser" to check the load. Heres what I found, 8, 8 ft high rolls of paper, each 6000 lbs. for 48,000 lbs. 2 in the nose, 4 in the middle, 2 in the rear. The superviser just looked sick when he saw it. He asked me if I could keep it stable, and it took like 7 or 8 straps and some load bars, but it arrived in Rockford, IL. safe. My point? if that load had shifted it would have rolled my truck in what ever direction those rolls went. As for doors, I open the right side door first and i stand behind the left door when I unlatch. Then I look in the back first, before I unlatch the left. But my main point is I am not hauling somthing without checking first. Thats part of my job the way I see it.
Be safe.
b

 

The chains designed to hold trl doors open may have slack in them and allow the doors to swing 2 to 6 inches away from the sides of the trl. This can cause problems in tight docks and close quarters. A better solution to a person holding trailer doors tight to the side of the trl is to attach bungee cords to the vertical rail and then hook the other end of the bungee cord to the undercarriage of the trailer. A crossmember or slide rail hole will work just fine.

Allowing another person to get "under a trailer to hold" a trailer door tight to the side is simply too dangerous to even consider. I strongly advise against EVER doing this.

Another tip for new drivers is; look at the trailer carefully and rear doors. Is the trailer leaning? Are the rear doors bulging? If you notice either of these problems then you have a load shift.

When you have a load shift against the rear doors then open 1 door carefully and either brace the load with a load lock or ask a forklift driver to come out and either remove the shifted freight (pallet) so you can safely back into a dock or leave 1 door closed and back into the dock with 1 door open. Once you are docked then you can hand unload the shifted freight onto the dock relieveing the pressure from the still closed door. Once the shifted freight has been removed then the driver can pull forward, open the second door, and then re-dock the trailer to continue the unloading process.

 

A lot of unfair comments here. #1, many drivers today in this drop/hook world and pre-loaded/sealed world have no idea how poorly or how well a load was loaded and secured. #2, in some cases, no amount of "proper driving" is going to keep some loads from "coming undone" on some of the poor roads we have today.

Air ride trailers are a true blessing and will provide a good deal of insurance against a load coming undone or cases falling, etc. Spring ride trailers are hell on freight.