Gedanken zur Ladungssicherung - FCIO

Translation: Original in German
Some ideas on cargo security
Unsafe loading often the cause of serious vehicle
accidents
� Drivers on the A1 motorway heading towards Salzburg are warned that a truck has lost
part of its cargo between Mondsee and Thalgau. A number of concrete blocks are lying
on the pavement.
� On the A 2 motorway the driver of a heavy vehicle slowed down abruptly. The four tiedown
straps that secured 25 tons of steel girders broke and the cargo slipped off the
vehicle onto the road. Fortunately, no other vehicle was damaged and no-one was
injured. The driver said: ”I thought four straps would be enough.“
� Changing lanes as it approached motorway road works near Amstetten West, a flat-bed
trailer heading towards Vienna started skidding. The excavator that was carried on the
trailer had not been properly secured and dropped onto the oncoming carriageway.
This is the kind of news we hear on the traffic radio every day. Much too often, goods
produced at high cost are unloaded not at the customer’s site but during transport. This poses
a significant danger to road traffic. And even if the cargo stays on the vehicle and “only“ shifts,
damage to property may be considerable. Insurance companies can tell you a thing or two
about this and therefore try hard to raise awareness of the problem of cargo safety among the
responsible parties.
Much has already been achieved over the past years and substantial progress has been
made. Nonetheless there is no reason to lean back and relax as those concerned are still not
adequately familiar with cargo safety regulations.
In Austria, the legislator took a major step forward in raising traffic safety by adding a new
provision to the law governing driving licenses under which violations of cargo safety
regulations will earn drivers bad points.
What drivers said when found in violation of rules:
The boss said straps are too expensive ..... I was in such a hurry ..... I have not got any
straps .... we are not allowed to secure the cargo at the loading stations and are always
asked to leave the yard immediately ..... If I tell my boss to buy straps he will sack me!
I did not know that I should have tied down the goods .... the cargo is so heavy it can’t
move and is quite safe as it is .... No-one told me.... I’ve been driving for 20 years and
never had an accident ....
Konferenz: Chemikalien Sicher Transportieren Wien, September 2008