[choperbob]

:evil: pulling a flatbed is serious business. your load is right out there just waiting to jump off. improperly secured coils got so bad, new york started requiring us to have the metal coil endorsement. I am moving to a company that offers oversize training after 3 monts flat bed experience, but also require 2 years otr. they also train load securement. there should be a standard for all load securement and an endorsement for it. yeah lots of blasts to me but it is only my opinion. when we decide to haul open cargo, we are responsible for load securement. period. i just hope i never lose a load because i failed to properly secure it. bottom line is we are all responsible for load securement, even if load is preloaded in a van and sealed. yup in sealed load , load securement is drivers responsibility, check fmcs. at the least we got to explain why we need to reload alongside the road. ain't no excuse for improperly secured loads. but again, just my opinion.

[DaveP]

100% agree with you here chopperbob...

I'm not sure I could forgive myself for dropping an improperly secured load on an innocent bystander.

Or even losing one at all anywhere, for that matter.

[redsfan]

I know at Maverick, unless things have changed, every experienced driver whether they have flatbed experience or not, has to test out before they get a truck. They may or may not be sent to Ft. Smith for additional training, but they all will definitely have to test before they will be handed the keys.

We already have standards in place for all flatbed securement. Most companies set their standards well above and beyond those handed down by DOT. I really don't see where requiring an endorsement for coils will help much at all. I don't believe that it has much to do with the training programs at any large company, guys are simply cutting corners. We can train them for a year and have them carry an endorsement for every type of load, but if a guy is gonna take shortcuts, none of this would matter at all.

Personally, I always liked hauling steel coils. For me they were easier to secure and tarp that just about any other load. I never worried about them because I knew it was done right before I pulled away. Everyone always claimed that they wanted to do it right because they didn't want to endanger innocent people around them on the road. Might make me sound a little selfish, but I always went the extra mile in securement because I didn't want the darn thing to end up in my sleeper! I figured if I took care of that the others around me didn't have anything to worry about either...

I agree the jail time thing has to be Channel 19 talkin. Unless he found a way to change the Alabama law to say that anyone given a ticket for securement has to come before me? Otherwise, I would say that more could be ticketed, but most would just get the ticket and a chance to get it right before they pulled off. My guess is that very few offenders would even get in front of the judge for him to hand down this sentence.

[nrvsreck]

I heard about this on Ch19 the other day when I was picking up some steel in Birmingham. Heard a driver complaining about another driver only having one chain on each coil and how that driver could get thirty days in jail. Coils are easy to secure. Just remember one chain for every 10,000#. I would never use only one chain on a coil no matter how lite. For a 45,000+# coil, six chains for safety's sake. It ain't hard. But the locals will do they do. They get paid by the load so they don't care. :roll:

[arky]

Might make me sound a little selfish, but I always went the extra mile in securement because I didn't want the darn thing to end up in my sleeper! I figured if I took care of that the others around me didn't have anything to worry about either...

This is my attitude exactly. I don't want it moving...period. For my own sake! We are told at Maverick to use one securement for each 8,000#'s. I do that and then some!

It's the securements that prevent forward/rearward movement of the freight that is getting some of these guys in trouble as I understand it. One thing for sure, if they want to push that issue, there's not a flatbed on the road that doesn't fail that test on a regular basis. When is the last time you used a bulkhead or trip chain/strap on a load of OSB board? What about pipe...or I-beams? What about a load of lumber, do you trip chain that? or bulkhead? It's my understanding that if your in the state of AL, you better find a way! One thing is for sure, if they want to nail you to the wall, they can find a way. Hopefully, they have some since of reason with this new crackdown or we could all be in trouble.

Arky

[eplurubus]

I drove for Hunt Transportation, which is a good flatbed carrier in Omaha, NE. If I remember right, safety wanted two chains for anything up to 10,000 lbs., and another chain every 5,000 lbs. Or that may have just been my personal preference. I don't remember.

Anytime pipe was stacked more than two layers high, it got a belly wrap.

I tried to use all of my straps whenever I could. For instance, if I was hauling lumber, and each section only needed 2 straps, I would throw 2 straps over all the sections and if I had straps left over, then I would go back and throw a third strap over some sections. Am I a little paranoid? Probably. Am I a little obsessive compulsive? Maybe. Will I go to any and all lengths to make sure that my load is above-and-beyond safe? Absolutely.

"But you don't need that extra strap or chain," I have been told. Well, it took all of about two minutes to put it on, and I can rest easy knowing my load isn't going anywhere. I was told at Hunt, "If your load is secured well, then you can roll down a mountain, and the load will still be attached when the dust clears." Well, I never rolled down a mountain, but I never lost a load, either.

[coastie]

Originally Posted by GMAN

We hear a lot about the flatbedders not properly securing loads, but some of the vans have been hauling unsecured coils. Covenant is one company who has been hauling palletized coils without any securement. I saw a few coils being picked up out of a van that had turned over a few months ago. I don't know if the coils had anything to do with the accident, but they evidently went through the side of the trailer. These coils should be secured just as they are on a flatbed or covered wagon. Those walls are thin on a van.

I agree, but how do you? I have hauled Coils in Dry Van and twice in one week on 2 different loads I had them shift on me. Both times it was cause I had to do a Fast Brake check. 4 Wheeler (Cost 150.00 to move the Coils back and I was still had to leave one where it stopped due it broke it own bands.) and then a JB Hunt Pull out in front of me causeing a coil to come 1/2 inch through the nose of the trailer. All they use to secure them is a metal star with spikes. 99% Dry Van trailers do not have tie down loops. 1% would be someone specialized in hauling them in dry vans.

[xroofer]

some flatbedders dont wont to spend so much time straping or chaining a load because it eats up time. most drivers do take extra caution when securing a load. i was at a shipper yesterday and loaded 3 coils on pallets 2 where 13,500 and one was 16,500 and driver from my company only threw 1 strap per coil tarp and was gone. company policy is 3 on top 2 of which are crossed and 2 on the pallet to stop forward and backward motion