Safe Loading

March 2025

Driver Managers – improve your understanding

Our monthly fleet focus delves deeper into some of the key road safety topics to improve your understanding, with free resources for you to share with your drivers.

Each month’s topic sits in a library so, as the library grows each month, you can access a bank of resources at any time to help you improve driver safety in your organisation.

ACCESS THE FULL FLEET FOCUS LIBRARY

Your Drivers – Your Responsibility

Your Call to Action:

Ensure you have the driving for work policies you need in place for safe loading – check our policy template here
Ensure everyone involved – managers, supervisors as well as your drivers – are aware of their responsibilities
Don’t be afraid to challenge your drivers about insecure loads

Safe Loading

Driving is for the most people the most dangerous activity they can do.

It should go without saying that any load on your vehicle must be both legal – in other words, not overloaded – and secure.

And remember, ‘load’ refers to anything being carried, including any tools or materials for use by the driver as part of their role – such as an engineer, for example.

Overloading can significantly affect the way a vehicle handles, especially in an emergency, and insecure loads can kill.

It’s vital that as an organisation and as a manager or owner you are confident that your drivers are trained, and understand the need to secure loads, how to secure loads, and how to correctly use and secure all the equipment this might involve.

If someone else has loaded the vehicle, the driver must check the load security.

You and your drivers both have a responsibility under Regulation 100 of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 to be confident that your loads are properly secured. Insecure loads are seen as a priority road offence – because they are so dangerous – and drivers and their vehicles can be prohibited by the enforcement agencies.

So, how confident are you that your drivers can handle load safety with the proper instruction and equipment?

Read the legal update

Your Legal Insights: Safe Loading

Does your driver handbook & driving for work policy specify clearly your rules on safe loading?

Employers and managers should ensure that their drivers are clear about:

checking the loads they carry are safe and secure
how to unload those goods
what they should do if the load shifts in transit

Everyone involved in that loading process “loading plan” should be provided with the necessary training, and you should carry out regular risk assessments to identify issues and potential risks.

Read the full article and legal insights on safe loading and your responsibilities here.