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The Freight Transport Association (FTA), with the help of consultants TRL, is researching the importance of safe securing of loads in vans, with a view to establishing a best practice guide for load retention. Launching the project last week, TRL conducted two van crash tests to demonstrate the importance of secure loading. In the first test a van body was mounted on a sled, and accelerated at a force of up to 28g - the equivalent of van-to-van impact of 30mph. In the back were bricks, a generator,  road breaker, stone cutter, various other tools and retrofit shelving. No part of the 515kg load was secured, but a bulkhead was fitted.

"The result was shocking," says James Hookham, FTA deputy chief executive. "The improvised racking crumpled and broke away from its mounts, making missiles out of the objects that were on it. They distorted and penetrated the bulkhead, crumpling the driver's seat. The driver would have been seriously injured or killed." The second test featured a van body kitted-out with a purpose-built storage system, which had been designed with crash safety in mind. The load totalled 350kg, and the aftermath was far less explosive. The bulkhead was not penetrated and the driver ran no risk of being hit by the cargo.

Paul Wood, MD of Vehicle Leasing Services, and a member of FTA's Utilities Working Group, says: "Our goal is to make vehicles safer and stay one step ahead of the legislation. "Against the background of zero injury expectation, irrespective  of the incident, along with the imminent Corporate Manslaughter legislation, it is necessary for operators and enforcement agencies to establish a reliable, reasonable and above all practical guidance on these issues." This research will conclude at the end of the year.

View the video on: www.roadtransport.com/blogs/