The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has published a set of International Guidelines on Safe Load Securing for Road Transport to promote safe load securing practices to all stakeholders involved in the transport of goods by road and further increase road safety.
Published by the IRU’s International Commission on Technical Affairs (CIT), the guidelines are primarily based on a European standard on load restraining on road vehicles (EN 12195-1:2010), they also include other safe practices observed across the road transport industry, such as timber and vehicle transport as well as others, not covered by the European standard.
According to Mårten Johansson, President of the IRU CIT, “the aim of these guidelines is to enable ALL stakeholders involved in road transport operations anywhere in the world to correctly load and secure goods on vehicles. If all stakeholders implement safe load securing practices from the outset, it will create sustainable improvements in transport operations and road safety standards at national and international level.”
Rules on safe cargo securing vary from one country to another, or do not even exist in some countries and regions, making it difficult for road transport operators to know the minimum requirements for international journeys. Moreover, loads that have not been properly secured can fall off, affect a vehicle’s balance and sometimes even tip it over.
The IRU said it is confident that its guidelines, developed in cooperation with partners in the health, safety and training industries, as well as the working environment, will help reduce the number of people injured and transport disruptions resulting from load related incidents in the workplace and on the road, thus preventing unnecessary and avoidable human suffering and economic damages.