safety tips for loading and unloading flatbed trailers

Loading and unloading a flatbed trailer is a lot more dangerous than you might have realised. A host of different factors can trigger accidents:

• load handling;
• slips and trips;
• hostile weather, including ice and wet or snowy conditions, and low light conditions or poor light can increase safety risks when accessing the load bed or working on it;
• loose or damaged banding, or insufficient shrink wrapping, or other loose packaging could create the potential for trips when working on the load bed;
• poor packing for fragile items or crushable ones, especially when using webbing straps, could cause product spill or damage;
• poor load stacking, or voids in the load stacking, could make the loads unstable, and they could then collapse during transit or when the workers are unloading them;
• bad load securing could cause the load to move during transit, creating a slip or trip hazard on the load bed.

Other slightly less obvious hazards include:

• failure to communicate with the operator of the equipment handling the load;
• not being familiar with the active workflow at a customer’s site;
• having little direction, or no direction, from a supervisor, or not having any procedures to follow;
• securing the load with an unknown or untrustworthy means;
• distractions during the loading process, such as work with the straps or chains;
• working in an area where the load could fall if it shifts, or standing in one;
• helping in processes with which the driver isn’t familiar.

Then there are the risks that come with carrying loads by road. Trailers can cause traffic accidents. If the goods in transit are dangerous, they carry the risk of spillage, which can lead to fire, explosions, chemical burn or environmental damage.

Loading a flatbed takes care and skill. You can’t just load it straight up though. You must prepare it for loading first, which we’ll describe how to do below. With your trailer prepared and all the necessary safety checks conducted, here’s how you load your flatbed trailer:

Distributing the total weight/working load limit on the flatbed trailer is essential. To ensure you’re loading your trailer safely and legally within its accepted rating, add the distribution of the weight and the gross vehicle weight (the weight of the cargo and the vehicle). The tow vehicle hitch will take care of the rest of the weight. You never want one side of the trailer to be significantly heavier than the other, but rather have the load evenly distributed on both sides of the flatbed.

The load distribution can’t be more than the rating, and you must take the tyres, wheels and axles into consideration when calculating this. If you’re pulling a triple-axle trailer or tandem, you must consider the front-to-rear load distribution, too, so that you don’t overload the axles.

Keep the centre of gravity as low as possible. Do this by keeping heavy items on the floor and above the axles. When you’re loading upward from the bottom, keep the side-to-side distribution of the weight even, maintaining proper weight on the tongue. Always bear in mind your gross vehicle weight. Never go over your rating.

You should place about 60% of the cargo on the front half of your flatbed and 40% on the back half. Secure it with tensioning devices, chains, straps or other appropriate equipment. Flatbed trailers are often bumpy when in motion, so securing the load well is vital. If the load begins to move while you’re out on the road, you could lose control of the vehicle. A secure centre of gravity can stop this.

For cargo securement use the right chains, straps and tensioning devices for the types of goods you’re loading. Often, companies use tarps to protect the loads because flatbed trailers are open, and businesses use this type of trailer for transporting a wide variety of cargo. Tarps, of course, don’t just protect the loads, but they also help to contain and secure them.

When preparing your trailer for loading, it’s important to check the ramps. Some trailers have two or three folding ramps you can store against the trailer deck while you’re transporting the load. If your ramps don’t fold over, install straps and safety lock pins so that they stay in place.

Even if someone else loads the trailer, it’s the driver’s responsibility to make sure it’s secure. If you’re the driver, check the load after the first 25 miles of driving to make sure the straps and chains are secure. Look for any chains or straps that have loosened. Check, too, for any straps that might have been rubbing and experiencing cuts or fraying from the rubbing, or causing cuts and fraying of other straps. Then check regularly during the journey.

Of course, you can’t just begin loading the trailer as soon as it pulls up to the loading bay. There are a number of preparations a logistics team should carry out before loading the trailer.

Check the trailer isn’t suffering from any corrosion or damage before you load anything onto it. Inspect the hold-down openings. Make sure they’re strong and have no kinks or cracks in them. The hold-downs, also known as ‘D-rings’, shouldn’t have any bends in them either and should be tight against the deck. If you notice any damage, don’t load the trailer until you’ve repaired it.

After checking the deck, confirm that it’s level. You can do this by coupling the trailer to the towing vehicle and confirming visually if it’s level.

The deck check is a good time to also check the ramps are secured to the trailer. You should also ensure that when you lower them, they rest firmly on the ground. When you’re using the ramps during loading, remove the pins and straps to lower the ramp to ground level. To avoid injuries, practise safe loading procedures. When lowering or raising something with a ramp, a solid foundation is crucial.

Before you load the trailer, you must find its anchor points and then inspect them. It’s important to know where these are so you don’t cover them with cargo. If you have any questions about how much these tie points can handle, be sure to get an answer for them before conducting any loading.

Before you head out onto the road with your trailer, walk around the trailer and visualise how the trailer and the load you’re carrying will respond to the worst conditions you can imagine. How will it respond to large potholes? To high winds? To emergency swerving or braking? Despite hoping for the best, you should always plan for the worst when preparing your trailer and loading it.

Just as you should take care when loading your trailer, and because there’s a certain way to load a flatbed trailer, you should also be careful when unloading it. Here are some tips on how to remove the load from your flatbed trailer safely:

This is pretty straightforward: never unload your trailer on a slope. If you do, the cargo could shift and cause the trailer to tip over. You should also check there are no mounds or depressions, and that there’s no debris or unstable ground. This is especially the case if you’re using a forklift truck to unload your trailer.

Here we have another straightforward tip: give yourself enough room to unload the trailer. You should know where you are and have plenty of room to access the trailer bed

When you load a trailer, you start with a pallet going up against the headboard of the trailer and load from side to side; when you unload a trailer, however, it’s the reverse: you should start at the back and unload, alternating from side to side. Note that if there’s no tractor unit attached to your trailer at the time of unloading, you’ll need to support the front end of the trailer.

Using a safety ladder or a flatbed trailer ladder makes unloading your trailer much safer because you don’t have to climb onto the tyres or any other parts of the trailer to access the load itself. A good trailer safety ladder will be strong, offer reliable traction on the steps and have support handles. You’ll also be able to unload the trailer quicker because you’ll be able to access the goods more easily.

When preparing to load or unload a trailer with a forklift, there are a number of things you must do:

• Instruct the vehicle driver to stay out of the loading bay while the forklift truck is operating.
• Ensure the transport vehicle’s brakes are engaged.
• Chock the vehicle’s wheels.
• Make sure the trailer bed can support the combined weight of the cargo and the forklift truck.
• Consider the weather. Avoid loading or unloading in bad weather conditions.
• Choose the forklift truck that has the best features for the conditions. For instance, an enclosed cabin for cold weather, pneumatic tyres for outdoor loading and unloading.
• Make sure the loading dock plate is correctly positioned, level, secure and can cope with the combined weight of the load and the forklift truck before riding over it. Check the dock plate load weight is clearly marked, which it should be.

When unloading or loading with a forklift truck, you should always perform the following:

• Press the horn when entering or exiting a loading bay.
• Pay attention to other vehicles, pedestrians or materials around you.
• Evaluate each load before lifting. Avoid lifting unstable loads or unsuitable ones. Loads that are leaning or haven’t been properly secured are two examples.
• Employ correct technique to prevent the trailer from tipping (i.e. keep the load balanced on the trailer).
• Keep the forks pointed downhill when travelling down a ramp, and keep them pointed uphill when travelling up one.
• Drive slowly and carefully. This can prevent damage to the forklift and trailer, helps to stop the alignment of the dock plate with the trailer from becoming disturbed and avoids shifts in the weight distribution of the trailer that could cause it to tip over.
• Stay clear of dock edges, ramp edges and railcar edges.

You can make it extremely safe to load your flatbed trailers and unload them safely if you invest in one of our loading solutions. We’ve designed this equipment to help you and your business not only boost your efficiency when it comes to loading and unloading, but to also make these processes safer. In the case of working with flatbed trailers, there are three main options we’d suggest, which we’ll now discuss below.

To decide what solution would be right for you, why not get in touch on our Let's Chat page? We’ll be able to suggest the best solution for you and install it so you can make loading and unloading flatbed trailers in your operation safer and swifter.