Blocking and Bracing Requirements

by | Dec 18, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Blocking and Bracing Requirements

Blocking and bracing are important methods of cargo securement every transportation professional needs to know about. Large loads without proper block or bracing tend to end up damaged and unrecoverable, so it pays to know why blocking and bracing is important to the shipping industry. In this article, we’ll take you through the blocking and bracing requirements and explain what they mean and why they’re so important.

Newton’s First Law

Most people remember Newton’s First Law, sometimes called the law of inertia: objects at rest tend to stay at rest, objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. In the case of shipping, blocking and bracing is the “outside force” for the cargo being shipped. You may see a piece of cargo and think it’s too heavy to ever move on its own, but that kind of thinking leads to dangerous situations.

More Weight Means More Blocking and Bracing

The heavier an object is, the more blocking and bracing will be needed to stabilize it during transit. Blocking and bracing requirements are crucial to the success of a delivery. Without them, you risk the cargo’s inertia throwing it around your trailer, or even setting your truck off balance and making you swerve. Once that heavy load starts moving, it’s going to want to stay moving unless it has enough blocking and bracing to counteract it.

Blocking

Blocking refers to not allowing the cargo to move laterally in any way, forward, backwards, or side to side. This is especially important in truck shipping as you’ll be making long, wide turns throughout a delivery. Without blocking, this would cause the load to shift from side to side inside the trailer. A shifting cargo load is a recipe for an accident waiting to happen.

Bracing

Bracing refers to the Z-axis movement of cargo—that is, moving up and down. Not having proper bracing means the load can jump and move off of its palette on particularly rough roads. This is a major danger to cargo and one of the most common ways cargo is damaged in transit. Bracing reduces this risk significantly.

Logistick Inc. makes cargo securing products for blocking and bracing because we know that you want to do your job to the best of your ability. It’s the driver’s responsibility to make sure all their cargo is safe and secure—both blocked and braced—so it reaches its destination unscathed.

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