Posted By Malcolm Hogarth Two questions for the price of one here. I think I already know the responses I am going to get, but here goes anyway. Does anybody have experience of having to unload containers where there is no ramp and no loading bay? I have had to turn a delivery away because I was not happy that we were expected had to put a man in the back of the container with a pump truck to bring forward loaded pallets of 1 tonne (they would then be taken off by a fork truck). We normally get deliveries on 'curtain siders' and I have stressed to our buyers that they must emphasise to suppliers that we will not accept deliveries in containers. The sticking point is that I can see a time that one day we will have an important delivery in a container that I will be told we must have and that it will have to be unloaded.We have looked at the options of a portable ramp for this event and feel that it may be the only option. (We have one supplier who has a wonderful container with electronic roller on the floor that shuffles the load to the rear of the container) The second part of the question is academic in the event, but relates to being quoted that new health and safety law states it is forbiden to move loads by pump truck /pallet truck where the load is more that 700Kgs. When I asked for the source of the information I was told "You are the safety manager and it is up to you to know and to find out"!! I telephoned the HSE helpline on this one and they were unabe to assist. I am guessing that I was being quoted some sort of industry guideline or code of practice.

Posted By Renny Thomson TechSP The practice of using a manual pallet truck to move the pallets to the back of a vehicle is quite common practice in the haulage industry. Of course, as it is a manual handling activity, an assessment should have been carried out. The access to the load deck should also be considered, at should the light levels inside the container, (a 40 foot container is pretty dark at the front!). It is possible to reduce the effort of moving the lheavy pallets by ensuring the vehicle is parked on a level surface or preferrably a slight slope to the rear of the vehicle. It may be possible to induce a slope by varying the height of the rear of the towing vehicle. One of the problems with containerised traffic is that usually, all that the haulier is contracted to do is to move the container from the port/dock to the customer. It is then the customer's job to unload it. The operator of the pallet truck should be trained and aware of the dangers, safety footwear is essential. As you point out it is better to avoid the problem by specifying that consignments are delivered in side access vehicles only. However this is not always possible with international traffic. Good Luck