Hi Nikki,

You won't find anything specific that will tell you either way. Who unloads or loads vehicles will depend on the business operation. The nature of the business will normally dictate who does this operation. Also is it your own drivers or 3rd party as most 3rd party drivers would expect the despatch ops to do it.

Carry out a Risk Assessment of the operation and look at what you are unloading, its it on pallets, do you need pallet trucks etc. Another thing to keep in mind it controlling the vehicles an not getting pull always when unloading (if being unloaded on bays).

What kind of loads? How do they come in? How are they unloaded?

IMO, the responsibility of unloading should be determined when an order is placed.

For example, if you have an FLT, you may state on your purchase order that goods must be delivered on pallets of a size that your FLTs can handle.

You could state on your purchase order that goods must be delivered and unloaded by the carrier. This will remove any ambiguity as to who should do what and also forms a contract.