Load security

Stricter enforcement of rules governing load security on the road

Contractors and farmers need to pay special attention to ensuring loads hauled on roads are properly secured this season, following changes in the enforcement approach by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

New DVSA guidance, recently seen by the NAAC, makes it clear that everyone involved in the transport operation have legal responsibilities to ensure road transport safety. The driver of the vehicle is not necessarily the only responsible party and the vehicle operator and the person, or company, who puts the load on to the vehicle also have responsibilities in law.

All loads carried on vehicles must be secured, whatever the journey. This is to protect the people involved in loading, unloading and driving the vehicle, other road users and pedestrians.

Road regulations

It’s important to note the existing Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 have not changed. They state: “The load carried by a motor vehicle or trailer shall at all times be so secured, if necessary by physical restraint other than its own weight, and be in such a position, that neither danger nor nuisance is likely to be caused to any person or property by reason of the load or any part thereof falling or being blown from the vehicle or by reason of any other movement of the load or any part thereof in relation to the vehicle.”

From 1 May 2022, however, this rule has been applied in perhaps a more robust way by the enforcement agencies. Key to this is road safety and bulk loads will continue to be under the spotlight this summer.

Statistics show that in the ten years since the on-road enforcement approach was last updated, there have been several load shift incidents involving agricultural vehicles, resulting in higher scrutiny.

Examiners will now be making a simple assessment about the load security. This will involve checking can it move or has it moved? If they decide that it is insecure, they will select the reason (or defect) that best fits the insecure load, which will printed off on to the prohibition, so that the driver is in no doubt as to why they have a problem.

Secure the load

Essentially the load should not be considered dangerous or likely to be shed on to the road during transit. This means that loads transported on agricultural vehicles and trailers must be secured in the same way as any other load when being transported on the public roads.

In terms of loose loads in tippers or similar bulk loads, vehicle examiners have been instructed to act when a load is not properly sheeted and/or when the load is heaped up in the middle of the vehicle/ trailer above the sides.

It is important, when assessing loads, for the operator to consider load security in conjunction with work at height and manual handling when thinking through the risks in their business.

Safe and secure

Unsecured loads can affect the handling of the vehicle, increase the braking distance, or increase the risk of a rollover. Load items falling from the vehicle during the journey can strike other vehicles or pedestrians, or create an obstruction in the carriageway that causes other drivers to have to swerve or brake heavily to avoid. The weight of heavy items alone cannot be relied on to hold them in place and even small, light items can kill if they come off a vehicle travelling at speed.

Points of note

• A load on an open vehicle or trailer must be prevented from moving upwards, as well as from side to side, or front to back. For some loads, that can mean strapping the load to the load bed, but generally it will need to be sheeted with either a net or tarpaulin.

• Bales, bags and boxes must be secured using rated nets or tarpaulins, or by strapping over the top of an empty pallet placed on top of the bag to distribute the force of the strap(s).

• If transporting a crop in a bulk tipper and loading above the height of the sides, the trailer must have a rigid cover or a sheet that completely covers the load bed.

• When transporting bales or boxes over the height of the headboard of the trailer, additional securing must be used to prevent the load moving forward.

• The gap between the front of the load and the headboard on all trailers must be less than 30cm, unless additional securing has been used to prevent forward movement of the load.