1. Safe Loading and Cargo Securing in Practice
Vilnius, November 29th, 2012
Good afternoon,
Glad to be here, to have the possibility, to tell about the Safe loading from the drivers perspective
Background:
35 years in branch………..Bla. Bla……..
Experience with the practical issues
Talk to many drivers, and hear their problems.
Major risk of infringements and fines for the driver on the road
Soren Christiansen
Managing Director BOREAS Consult Intl
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

2. The responsibility of the Driver
Responsibilities:
For the Whole transport chain, but I will put Focus on the practical Preperation, and tell to the truth, it is not so hard, but it is a matter of attitude.
Driving: All is about the safety. When you go from A to B, the driver is responsibel for all cargo is secured in a prober way.
Carrying: If the driver has no influence on the loading and securing, he is still responsible for, no damage must be done, when he is doing the transport.
But all included in the the transport, need to accept their responsibillities.
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

3. Ensuring safe and compliant cargo transport in five points
Cargo – vehicle compliance (substance, size, weight etc.).
Vehicle type (flat bed, semi-trailer, truck and trailer etc.)
Vehicle capacity (Cubic meters, and axle load)
Loading plan
Loading devices
Vehicle structure (floor type, stanchions, curtain sider vs box, etc.)
Vehicle state (damaged, wet, clean, etc.)
THE KEYWORD IS PROPER EXPERTISE AND SKILLS IN ALL THE TRANSPORT CHAIN:
Consigner-Consignee, Transportoperator, Storing house personel, forkliftoperators, etc.
To be very simple in this, it is all about 5 points:
Cargo Vehicle compliance
Cargo.
Securing Equipment
SecuringTecnique
Taking the road
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

4. Ensuring safe and compliant cargo transport in five points
Cargo type (Identifying the transport conditions and rules for a specific type of cargo).
Fragile goods
Livestock
Heavy material
Dangerous Goods
Refrigerated
Etc.
e.g.
Fragile goods will require specific transport conditions to avoid damages – no stacking, special securing (lahsing can damage…)
{Importance of proper insurance}
ADR class 6.1 and 6.2 cannot be stacked
Livestock – no lashing, no stacking, gravity etc.
Refrigerated – remember to lock the hanging meat
Heavy material: Machine, chains, floor on trailer, coils…….
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

5. Ensuring safe and compliant cargo transport in five points
Securing equipment
Availability
Requirement and adequacy of material available
Lashings
Chains
Stanchions
Airbags
Friction mats
Blocking (e.g. wedges, blocking boards)
XL Constructed Trailers
Condition of securing equipment
No one equipment is enough used individually. It shall be a combination. We will not enter in details on how this shall be applied as it will be covered tomorrow during the Training Seminar in more details.
Need to speak about the strenghts of the different material – e.g. When possible – Always use Frictions mats
The new XL trailers are constructed so they are an integral part of the cargo securing. So if there is a forecasted investment in new equipment, it is a good idea to consider XL trailers. Maybe for some kind of cargo, the carrier does not need so many lashings, which diminish the required time to secure. It results in saving of man hours and more efficient transport.
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

6. Ensuring safe and compliant cargo transport in five points
Securing techniques
Lashing
Top over lashing
Loop lashing
Direct lashing
Chains
Direct anchoring
Several techniques are available and ensure safe and compliant transport
However most of them require a good knowledge and appropriate cargo securing skills
Top over lashing: Most common used (easy to use, use of protectors…. (USE the tables in the procedures)
Loop Lashing: Also used a lot: It grabs around the cargo, like binding a shoe
Direct lashing: If there is prepared lashing points, it is possible to use this directly
Chains:
Most used on heavy machinery, entrepreneur machinery, transformers, steel plates etc.
What are the tips when using chains (e.g. deflate tires, use wheel chocks)
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

7. Ensuring safe and compliant cargo transport in five points
Taking the wheel
Check, check and check
Drive adequately by considering the load
Check, check and check again
Road side check – Demonstrate confidence that the cargo securing applied on your vehicle is at safe and compliant standard
Ensure your skills are up to date in order to ensure safe and secure cargo transport in all situations
Speak about personal experiences – why for me it has been costly (no standard in place, no serious infringement {depending on countries}, no training and references existing}.
Slippery wood plates Elsinore harbour.
Pallets with beer
Sweden had rules al the time
Company made a procedure ( 3 hours binding up 32 ton of plates) 30 lashings and a lot of protection edges in every trailer.
Refrigerated trailer: 23 ton of hanging meat, not locked. 23ton of meat with 70 km/h against the front wall (moving energy is around 500 t) The total moving energy with 48 t and 90km/h is around 1500 t. (speed x speed x weight divided with 254 )
We did not care about it before, but doing by learning made it. Maybe you need 2 hours to secure, and so what. Consequences may be severe not doing it.
I have been lucky but what needs always to be considered by drivers and transport operators is what is the cost of infringement and worse accident versus the cost of following a high standard training course.
Without a structured approach, the acquisition of proper skills can be a lengthy process which goes through “learn by mistake” situations which could be long but more importantly very costly and jeopardise safety rules due to ignorance.
No compliance with safety due to ignorance has no excuse as proper learning programmes available by professionals exist today to ensure that safe loading and cargo securing is implemented in a safe and compliant manner.
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

8. Conclusions
Unfortunately, in most cases, the driver is still responsible in case of an incident or accident even if he has not been the one loading the vehicle.
Correct procedures and policies need to be implemented to minimise unsafe situations
Company implements a safety policy
Company procedures need to be communicated and followed
Transfer safe behaviour to staff (Through proper training)
Use best practices e.g. Checklists
Do not be complacent with safety rules
To conclude, we need to summarize the problems, and then take action on it.
We need maximum political focus, and pressure on the the people/ministery/stakeholders/, which are involved in the legeslation work, and take the decisions, on our behalf.
Make it harmonised, and simple, so all in the chain (incl. authorites) can learn and understand it
Safety policy, can be an effort to make the insurence not so costfull, if it can be proven, that procedures and education reduce the accident rate.
Make clear and simple procedures.
Make local training/repeat recapexercises
Use the same practice, use the simple checklists
We are prof. We never compro mize safety rules.
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011

9.
Thank you very much for your attention, and wish you good seminar.
(c) International Road Transport Union (IRU) 2011