Freight Transport Association to produce load safety guidelines

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has commissioned research into the safety of loads in vans with the aim of introducing a best practice guide.

Part of the research will look at the best ways to secure loads, as well as examining the typical forces experienced during a collision.

Current Department for Transport guidelines say the load should stay in place when subjected to a force of 1G, but according to the FTA, most enforcement agencies expect the load to stay in place irrespective of the severity of an incident and deceleration involved.

Following FTA representation, the Vehicle and Operator Service Agency is relaxing sideguard testing standards on certain goods vehicles until April 2008. Currently a truck will fail the test if any part of the sideguard is missing, causing problems for vehicles with a crane behind the cab.

Operators of such vehicles will now receive an advisory warning that they will fail after next April.