Federal regulations in Part 393 establish performance requirements and commodity-specific rules for securing cargo, including minimum tiedown counts, working load limits, and standards for particular commodities such as logs, metal coils, and machinery.
Drivers must inspect the load before departure and periodically during transit.
Alternative Names:
Load Securement Regulations, Cargo Securement Standards
Why it Matters?
Securement failures cause both cargo loss claims and serious injury when loads shift or fall onto the roadway, and violations are objectively provable against published standards. The driver's inspection obligation matters as much as the initial loading, since a driver who never checked the load cannot rely on the shipper having secured it. The shipper's role introduces the sealed load doctrine, which limits driver responsibility where the trailer was sealed.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Who is responsible for securing cargo?
What is the sealed load doctrine?
