Consignor Responsibility

The consignor is the person or company who physically loads the vehicle.

If you are responsible for loading vehicles, you need to think about how you can make sure the load remains in a safe condition from loading right through to delivery. The key to this is a combination of risk assessment, planning, and communication.

Risk assessment is a legal requirement that helps you to identify issues and take reasonably practicable steps to deal with those issues before they become serious problems. It doesn't have to be a difficult or complicated process: HSE produce straightforward information on risk assessment.

You should think about how the load will be secured, how that can be done safely, and who will do it. You may find it useful to use a load information sheet for the loads you transport so that your hauliers know what's on their vehicles and how it's secured, particularly if drivers aren't involved in the loading and/or if the method of securing is unusual or needs extra care when unloading. See an example of a load information sheet.