Covering: how to ensure safety for your staff and prevent fall risks?

In the freight transportation industry, workplace accidents related to loading and unloading products into containers remain high. Indeed, the transport of bulk solid goods (animal feed, substrates, waste, soil, paper, vegetables, cereals) imposes security requirements and the implementation of an appropriate device: the installation of a tarp on containers or trailers.

During covering and uncovering of each container, employee operators are significantly exposed to risks of serious falls from height. The trailers lack safety equipment, protective coverings, and anti-fall systems. Ensuring the safety of bulk product transportation for all road users and improving working conditions and employee safety necessitate the implementation of effective and reliable preventive measures. OTEXIO offers patented, secured covering systems that are essential in reducing height-related risks for your staff.

Covering and uncovering multiple times a day

Employees working in construction or grain and vegetable production companies, as well as waste sorting centers, perform numerous covering and uncovering operations on truck trailers each day. The driver of the transport vehicle needs to climb onto the container to check the proper loading and install the protective tarp. Temporary covering at the loading dock of truck trailers serves as a safety cover for several reasons:

• Road Safety: Even though covering requirements for containers are not explicitly regulated, the road traffic code still mandates taking all necessary measures to prevent the load on a truck from causing harm or danger to others during transportation.
• Client Satisfaction: If foreign objects soil the load during transport, it can be rejected by the client.
• Quality of Goods: covering the container provides optimal protection against weather conditions like rain, wind, and snow (particularly for the transport of cereals or recyclable waste).

Truck trailers lack both individual and collective protection measures. To ensure the protection and safety of employees on the worksite and to eliminate the risk of falls from heights, employers must implement suitable and reliable protective devices. Falls are responsible for numerous accidents of varying severity (impact, bodily injuries, fractures, etc.).

Common accidents

Many workplace accidents can occur during loading, unloading, covering, and uncovering operations of truck trailers or containers. The primary risks associated with loading/unloading and covering/uncovering must be taken into account by the employer:

• Falls from Heights: During covering, employees need to move along the edge or the length of the container to secure the tarp. Access to heights remains basic (welded rungs on the trailer, vertical ladders, absence of guardrails, slip risks).
• Poor Quality covering or Loading of the Trailer: The load must be evenly distributed to prevent the container from tipping over on the road. Low-quality covering poses a potential danger to other road users (volatile elements scattering on the road making it slippery and reducing visibility, heavy and solid elements becoming hazardous obstacles).
• Employee Falls while climbing up or down the cab.

The high frequency of these types of accidents mandates the implementation of individual or collective protective measures for covering and loading operations. Thanks to various covering systems developed, prevention measures can be taken by each employer and company manager.

Preventive measures

To reduce or even eliminate the risk of falls during the installation of tarps or nets on top of trailers, security requirements are met:

• Checking Trailer Fill Levels: Limiting the accumulation of load at the front of the container to avoid burying the attachment rail. This way, the employee no longer moves across the width of the container.
• Adjusting Net and Tarp Dimensions: Reducing the risk of falls when unfolding the tarp or net.
• Implementing Safety Devices on Trailers: Walkways with fixed guardrails and access via a vertical ladder, scaffolding, step stool, platform.

Secured covering solutions (LiteCover – SafeCover)

OTEXIO, a partner for transportation professionals, has developed reliable, cost-effective, high-performance, and user-friendly secure covering solutions: the patented LiteCover® SAFECOVER® system for 100% secure covering. This trailer safety device consists of:

• 1 lightweight net per trailer, available in various qualities and dimensions.
• 1 pole, 1 boom, 1 handle to facilitate loading covering operations.
• 2 fastening kits for the covering system on the transport vehicle.
• Training on using the LiteCover® covering system provided by OTEXIO's team.
• 1 LiteCover® SAFECOVER® maintenance kit.

Thanks to this security system we provide:

• Enhanced productivity with simple and rapid handling.
• Adaptability of the covering system to trailers of all sizes (from 7 to 45 m³).
• Protection of your load against all weather conditions (wind, rain, snow).
• Benefit from the durability and lightness of our tarps and nets.
• Order your custom tarp or net.

Are you in search of a covering system that meets your expectations in terms of safety, durability, and practicality? The secure covering solutions LiteCover® and SafeCover® will provide you with the desired outcome. For any quotation requests, contact us!