Although commonly seen as material handling equipment and tretated accordingly ULD are in fact aircraft equipment, required to perform to a certain standard during flight in order to protect the aircraft and its systems against cargo shift. Not only must the ULD perform this function but they must be shown to be operated in compliance with the regulatory requirement of the national aviation authority. Organisations whose activity involve any kind of ULD operation are required to take responsibility for the ULD within their facility.

The ultimate risk is of a fatal accident, of which there have been two, Fine Air 101 and National Air Cargo 102, both resulting from lack of proper complaince with loading proceedures. Far more common are incidents of cargo shifts and aircraft damage  as well as injury to personnel casued by imcorrect use of ULD.

Create a bespoke inhouse program or adopt a suitable 3rd party program that ensures a company wide understanding of the flight safety function of ULD.