I was long haul for a year and never had a ladder. There were a couple of times that I went to a truckstop and borrowed one from the shop, or used ones at shippers, but never carried one myself. On the TMC trucks the inside of the headache rack is easy to climb up. The best thing that I came up with is to leave one strap a little loose at the front of the load to hang on to, and if you need to you can leave the x straps loose a bit so you can use them for a foothold. If the load will fit have the shipper step the front bundles so you can climb easily.

The discouragement of ladders at TMC is not a safety issue, but an appearance issue. People will stick them behind the headache rack and scratch the paint or dent the sleeper. The best bet is to get one that you can hide in behind the coil rack between the trailer frame rails so it won't be stolen, but that limits the size. In my opinion any ladder that is long enough to be effective in every situation is too expensive to risk theft or damage and too bulky to be effectively carried.

Just keep it out of sight and you will be fine. TMC just doesn't want ladders being carried unsafely like bungeed to the top of the side boxes or strapped accross the front bumper. :wink:

You will have to look back a few pages to find my "everything is a test theory." Basically everything during the hiring and orientation process tests you. If you give up after one phone call you probably will not follow through and deliver the load. The recruiters get hundreds of applications a day and many applicants do not follow through. If there is no reason that you should be denied then keep after recruiting. If they tell you to call back at such and such a time then DO IT. If at first you are rejected do not dispair but ask your recruiter if applying again in a few weeks would result in a different outcome. You need to be persistent enough to make contact with the recruiter through their busy schedule and be patient when they tell you to wait. Do not be discouraged. Most likely you will get a postcard in the mail in a day or three with your recruiters name on it asking you to call them.

There is also a fine line between persistence and desperation. You do not want to appear to desperately need a job, because you may be a job hopper who will quit any job at the drop of a hat.

Haha, don't want to scratch that purty black paint job that is rarely seen behind the cab anyways............all they would need to do is put some small little padding back there to avoid a ladder scratching the paint. One would think a ladder is a necessity for a flatbedder to do their job, guess not.

A small little 4 ft ladder would be nice to use and easy to store, but alas, your right Rawlco, some fool would strap it down somewhere real dumb and get into trouble.

good info, keep after them.

The ladder question has been tossed around off and on for many years. As a matter of fact we put out a survey to all the drivers just a few months ago to solicit their feedback on the pros/cons. The bottom line is that they're just not really needed outside of the customer. True, you can always find a small exception here or there, but 99.9% of all our shippers provide a method of getting on top of the load whether it be a standard ladder or a full scale overhead platform. Many customers are now installing fall restraint systems to insure the driver doesn't hit the ground in the event of a slip. Once you leave the shipper there really isn't a need to be on top of the load. When it comes time to deliver, tarps and straps can be easily removed from the ground level with a little ingenuity and proper planning. Most drivers have a rope tied to the top corner D rings of the tarp so they can easily pull them off the load while standing on the ground. When it comes to removing edge protectors just a simple flick of the strap a couple of times will easily knock them off. Carrying a ladder has drawbacks. Aside from issues of appearance and securing it to the truck the biggest issue was mentioned by someone else earlier.....what happens if the driver falls in an empty rest area or alongside the road and lands in the ditch and no one is there to notice. Hope that helps clarify it a little more.

TMC

Are ya kidding? 99.9%??? If it's 50% I would be amazed. Many places won't even let you borrow a ladder because of "liability". Sorry, you are completely wrong.

I would venture to say, if you looked at statistics and such, based on OSHA Reportable injuries, that the banning of ladders on company equipment would make sense, too some!

Also, in a large company environment, that falls under OHSA regulations (TMC for instance), the proper securment of a ladder is next to impossible, as there is no place to tie it off on top and any load requiring a ladder, would also require a safety harness and proper tie off for that(which is another can of worms)!

So yes, the company policy banning ladders would follow under the CYA clause of business! IF we tell them they cannot have one, and they use it anyway, then said employee has violated a safety ruling, thus has left themselves open for termination, and NOT eligible for workman's compensation (or whatever variation of)!

TMC is not the only outfit that forbids ladders on their equipment!

IF there is a rule for it, you can bet someone did something to justify the thought of putting it in place! Kinda like no inverters in TMC trucks! Some dipstick wired one wrong and burned down $160,000 truck and part of the load! The scenario probably repeated a couple of times before they were finally banned altogether! I am sure the ladder thing resulted from the same lack of common sense! Thus, everyone pays!

Thank you Rawlco, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my post aswell. Seems like a fine line to walk and I will have to choose my words and actions carefully. I just tried to call recruiting but unfortunately it being Saturday, they are closed. I will have to bite down and wait till Monday.
Thanks again.

i have to agree here. TMC had some shippers that wouldnt even let you on the trailer on the property. it can be hard to tarp without getting on the load let alone the trailer. lowes always had high loads and no ladder.

i have to agree here. TMC had some shippers that wouldnt even let you on the trailer on the property. it can be hard to tarp without getting on the load let alone the trailer. lowes always had high loads and no ladder.