Safety is the number one propriety in construction today. You must think safety of the people working on your construction site and the safety of the site itself before you think about anything else.The other area of concern is the safety of the public around your sites and also around your company vehicles.
You must make sure that when you are loading trucks and trailers that you have the loads properly secured.
There are some major safety concerns when you haven’t secured a load properly;
• Workers can be hurt while loading other items if the load is to shift before loading is finished.
• Workers can be hurt when unloading trucks or trailers if loads have shifted around while in transport from one location to another.
Another danger is the risk to other motorist on the roads and highways if your load is to shift or fall off of the truck. Studies show that 25 percent of all unsafe highway incidents where attributed to cargo inadequately secured on trucks and vehicles while they are in transport.
You should establish a training program that teaches your employee’s about how to secure loads on company vehicles. If you have an employee whose job it is to move material and tools around in a big truck then that employee should be solely in charge of the final securing of all loads before the vehicle leaves the yard.
Another good practice for your employee’s to get in the hang of is to do is to pull over a couple miles down the road in a safe place where they can get out and inspect the load. A lot of times that moving of the truck a couple minutes down the road allows the load to settle, this settling will allow you to check the straps and chains on the load and see if they require tightening. This will ensure that if you have to stop suddenly the load will not come off the truck or shift enough to damage anything that you are transporting.
Remember that regardless of what you transport in your vehicles you must always conform to the local highway traffic act. This act established by the government and enforced by law-enforcement should be the minimum standard that you work towards. That means it is the least you should be doing when securing loads, if you exceed it then you are making a habit of being extremely safe and reducing the chance that someone will get hurt or your load will get damaged.
Like with all safety if your employee’s take that extra couple of minutes to make sure everything is secured properly then it will save you time and money when there isn’t an accident later.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
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