Driving is for the most people the most dangerous activity they can do. It should go without saying that any load on your vehicle must be legal – in other words, not overloaded – and secure.
And remember, ‘load’ refers to anything being carried, including any tools or materials for use by the driver as part of their role – such as an engineer, for example. Overloading can significantly affect the way a vehicle handles, especially in an emergency – and insecure loads can kill.
It’s vital that, as an organisation and as a manager or owner, you are confident that your drivers are trained, and understand the need to secure loads, how to secure loads, and how to correctly use and secure all the equipment this might involve.
If someone else has loaded the vehicle, the driver must check the load security.
You and your drivers both have a responsibility under Regulation 100 of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 to to be confident that your loads are properly secured. Insecure loads are seen as a priority road offence – because they are so dangerous – and drivers and their vehicles can be prohibited by the enforcement agencies.
So, how confident are you that your drivers can handle load safety with the proper instruction and equipment?
Driving for Better Business in collaboration with the National Highways Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team are providing free to access resources to help those who manage and employ drivers. Their Fleet Safety Focus Updates cover an important area every month. This month’s update focuses on Safe Loading and the risks around unsafe loads
It includes a link to a file of useful resources for you to download and share with your drivers, including:
- An article to share with your drivers on Safe Loading
- Short safety messages on Safe Loading to send to your drivers on their devices
- Safe Loading posters for your staff noticeboards
- Information sheets from our Van Driver Toolkit on Safe Loading and Stowage
Safe Loading
Driver Managers – improve your understanding
Our monthly fleet focus delves deeper into some of the key road safety topics to improve your understanding, with free resources for you to share with your drivers.
Each month’s topic sits in a library so, as the library grows each month, you can access a bank of resources at any time to help you improve driver safety in your organisation.
Your Drivers – Your Responsibility
Your Call to Action:
- Ensure you have the driving for work policies you need in place for safe loading – check our policy template here
- Ensure everyone involved – managers, supervisors as well as your drivers – are aware of their responsibilities
- Don’t be afraid to challenge your drivers about insecure loads
Your Legal Insights: Safe Loading
Does your driver handbook & driving for work policy specify clearly your rules on safe loading?
Employers and managers should ensure that their drivers are clear about:
- checking the loads they carry are safe and secure
- how to unload those goods
- what they should do if the load shifts in transit
Everyone involved in that loading process “loading plan” should be provided with the necessary training, and you should carry out regular risk assessments to identify issues and potential risks.
Read the full article and legal insights on safe loading and your responsibilities here.
