Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoTarping Without Falling

Falls from trailers and loads are one of the top injury causes in flatbed trucking — not blowouts, not backing accidents. A fall from a load that's five or six feet up hits with the force of falling off a roof, and most of these falls happen with a tarp in your hands.

Rule one: three points of contact, always. Two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand, every time you're on a ladder, headache rack, or the deck. You do not carry a rolled tarp in one arm and climb with the other hand. Stage the tarp first, climb second.

Rule two: you do not walk on the load to spread a tarp, and you do not walk on the tarp itself. Wet vinyl over steel or lumber is as slick as ice.

Rule three: bungees and EDCs are stored energy. One that slips off a rail can snap back at your face faster than you can flinch. Keep your face out of the line of travel when you hook or unhook one, and inspect them — a cracked or frayed bungee gets replaced, not reused.

Rule four: wind changes the job. A tarp is a sail. In gusty conditions, fold it smaller, get a second person on the ground to help control it, and if the wind is strong enough to pull you off balance, it's strong enough to postpone the job until it isn't.

Your company standard: chock your wheels before you climb anything. Use a tarping station or ladder when one is available — don't improvise a step out of the load itself. Two people on tarping jobs whenever staffing allows.

None of this costs you real time. A tarping station and a second set of hands takes minutes. A fall from six feet up can take your whole career, or worse. Slow down, stay off the tarp, and keep your hands out of the snap-back.