Securing/Blocking loads

Driver. Plain and Simple. DOT don't a rats behind for us drivers and if that trailer was already pre-sealed up.

 

Going back to my earlier post about loading steel. The loads where always around 45k and the pallets sat about two feet high and two feet long and wide (very small). There was a lot of room for them to shift side to side. In a van we could block them with wood blocks and a nail gun the shipper provided but in a reefer you couldn't do this. One day a driver picked a load up in a reefer and went to get on HWY 30 I think it was. He took the turn too quickly and the entire load shifted to one side of the trailer picking one side of the tandems up. He did not roll it over but as a result the company had to get a crane and a forklift to right the load. Oh yeah, and the OH state patrol had a nice unsecured load ticket for him.

 

I used to see this all the time at Tyson in Kansas City. Can't remember how many docks they have, but it's a lot and they have plenty of signs that say, "TKC is not an SLC," and I would be the only driver on the dock supervising my load.

One time they started without me (had a several hour wait at the dock) and when I got in there she already had 6 pallets loaded. I politely mentioned that maybe the dock foreman forgot to tell her that I was to be notified before loading and asked her to take them off for my inspection. One had a few broken cases that had to be reworked and wrapped and one with a broken pallet was so bad she didn't even stop to let me inspect it, she just kept going straight back to the warehouse.

Standing on the dock also minimizes trailer damage. I've never had forks slice through the lining when I'm there watching, but have picked up several with interior damage due to careless loading and unloading.

 

It's always the drivers responsibility to secure loads.Customers that have beer,soda water usually require you have straps or load locks before entering their property and will check to make sure.Otherwise you leave and go purchase straps or load locks then come back.Load securement is not done on a regular 'basis.You need to use your own judgement if the load requires to be secured.There will be times you'll drop your load at a terminal or drop yard that you secured,then you need to ask your dispatcher where you can get ld locks or straps,whatever you used.

 

Be especially careful to install two load locks anytime the freight is stacked high and/or the load is going a long distance. Never try to get away with using just one lock in either situation (let alone both at once), because if you do, you're far more likely to discover you have a big mess on your hands when you get to your destination.

 

I never watch getting loaded but when I pull away from the dock I look inside and see how things look, some places dont allow drivers in the loading areas. I also dont want to be standing there for 5 hours watching them slowly load, I have dealt with a lot of extremely slow loading times....once reason i try to avoid live loads whenever possible.

One place made me supervise though, I almost want to say it was a beverage place in American Canyon if I can remember correctly.

 

If the trailer has E tracks in the walls, straps work the best but load locks will work too. Just make sure you have at least two at the rear of the load. If DOT stops you and opens up the trailer for inspection and you don't have any type of securment, you will get nailed for it even though theres very little that can be done for vans. Reefers are the worst because of the aluminum floor so load securment is very limited but at least with a dry van, cleats/toe stops can be nailed to the floor if it truely calls for it and in most cases that is something the shipper will do but blocking in a van is rare.