Load Restraints
If you are in the market for load restraints, you probably understand their importance.
However, in case you are just starting out and have been told that you will need to purchase load restraints but are not completely sure why you need them; here is a brief little educational lesson in the use and importance of load restraints.
Why Should Load Restraints Be Used?
Imagine that you are driving behind a large 18 wheeler flat bed truck loaded with tree size logs and you suddenly notice that there is absolutely nothing tying those logs down to the open bed of the truck or to even keep them together. Would you feel particularly safe driving behind this vehicle? Of course not, with good reason. Without load restraints to strap an open cargo like huge logs to the bed of the truck and to each other, there would be nothing to prevent those logs from coming off the truck bed and right through your windshield. This applies equally well to any load that is being hauled in an open bed or on an open, flat bed trailer. Load restraints are necessary to secure these types of loads and to protect the safety of everyone on the roads, including the operator of the truck that is hauling such cargo.
Besides needing to use load restraints for safety reasons, they are also necessary to prevent damage to the load of materials that are being hauled. So, you would use load restraints to secure a cargo against slowing down or speeding up, as well as centrifugal and vertical forces and to prevent the load from sliding, tipping over or falling down and/or off the truck or trailer bed.
When Should Load Restraints Be Used?
The NTC, or National Transport Commission of Australia has strict and stringent guidelines, rules and policies that must be adhered to. You may obtain a free copy of the NTC Load Restraint Guide by downloading it from the NTC website. This guide goes into much specific detail about load restraints and when they must be used.
Generally speaking, a little common sense in this area goes a long way. If you have a large, unwieldy load of materials such as lumber for a building site, it will obviously need load restraints to transport it safely. Besides using load restraints for transporting large loads of materials or supplies, there are many situations around the job site that call for judicious use of load restraints, even when hauling power tools or various things in the back of a pickup truck.
Check out the load restraints offered within these pages!
