Logging truck and trailer combos are a common sight in many parts of the country. So are empty logging trucks on their way back to the forest, this time with the trailer piggybacking on the truck.  This trailer on truck arrangement is efficient on the road but it also puts enough weight over the drive wheels for the truck to climb back up steep forestry roads to get the next load.

It happens hundreds of times a day. The log loader will unload the trailer, ready for the next load, and, at the other end, either at a processing mill or often a seaport, the trailer will be hoisted back onto the truck, by a loader or a hoist on a gantry.

Working with heavy machinery, often in remote locations, involves risk but the industry and organisations like the Log Transport Safety Council, manufacturers like Patchell Industries and operators have been working away for years on pushing down these risks. Drivers receive detailed safety training on loading and unloading trailers. Trailer designs have also improved to the point drivers can now slew and latch drawbars under their trailers while the trailers are still close to the ground.

However, lifting trailers off the ground remains inherently risky. Some years ago, Director of Aztec Forestry Transport Developments, Peter Phillips, very nearly witnessed a serious accident first-hand. He saw a chain snap as a trailer was being lifted. It slammed to the ground, the free-swinging drawbar slapping the earth and bouncing up close enough to the driver to whip off his helmet.

“What’s the depth of that peak? Maybe 40mm? If he had been standing 40mm closer it would have broken his neck,” he says.

Tokoroa-based forestry owner, Manulife Investment Management, is continuing the drive to improve safety. In 2023, at a regular key supplier distribution meeting, its health and safety manager challenged distribution contractors to come up with a way to reduce the risks in lifting 6-tonne trailers in the air or, as they put it, to eliminate ‘third party trailer lifting.’ 

Unravelling responsibility in the event of an accident is another whole mess this solution would avoid, especially if the risk is eliminated in the first place.

 “I put my hand up,” says Peter. Other people did too. Rotorua Forest Haulage brought in a mechanical folding trailer system from Australia, but Peter was keen to work on his own solution. He has a long list of innovations to his credit over his 42 years in the industry and he was keen to take on the challenge. 

Enter the Safe-T-Loader.

To read more, get your copy of the May 2025 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 5 May. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).