Anticipating The Hazard

[MrFedEx]

This is a phrase FedEx uses all the time to blame employees for accidents and injuries. The current dog bite thread got me thinking about just how handy this little phrase is for them. Here are a few real-life examples of the employee being "at-fault" for not anticipating the hazard that I have witnessed or know of...just at my station.

1. Heavy crate falls from AMJ behind employee scanning belt. The crate was stacked at the very top of the container, and fell out onto the belt, crushing several fingers. Preventable injury charged to employee because they should have "anticpated the hazard".

2. Dog bites. I know of at least 4 couriers who have been bitten, and regardless of whether they were paid by the dog's owner or not, the bite was ruled a preventable injury because the courier should have "anticipated the hazard". In at least 2 of the cases, the dogs ran out from nowhere after the recipient had opened the door.

3. Courier slips and falls on black ice on a driveway with large stack of pkgs on top of handtruck. The last time I checked, black ice was invisible. I guess you need to get out, take a temperature reading, and test the pavement...all in your spare time.

4. Heavy box falls off belt and crushes enployee's foot while employee is turned around placing another box on floor. As the belt was moving, a long wood crate was shifted by another box and shoved into said heavy box, forcing it off the belt onto employee's foot. Preventable. Not anticipating the hazard.

5. Defective dock plate at customer location pops-up after it has been properly lowered. Employee falls through gap and injures shin and leg. Preventable, because courier should have anticipated the hazard.

6. Courier strikes low-hanging tree branch with roof of vehicle, even though it is dark, and the branch would be impossible to see. Long residential driveway where courier had delivered many times before...plenty of clearance. One of the trees along the driveway is dead, and the branch falls low in the darkness. Preventable.

I have so many more examples. But the point is that FedEx uses this language all the time to blame employees for injuries and/or accidents they could not possibly have anticipated or prevented. Then they bully them into signing-off that it was their fault. This lowers their insurance rates, because every non-preventable injury raises them. This is one of the fun aspects of working for a self-insured company.

It's wrong, unethical, immoral, and unfair. And it's just another reason that FedEx is the worst employer ever.

 

[Route 66]

yes, and one of the reasons why I just enjoy watching the movie "Swimming With Sharks" over and over again. I can indulge my fantasies for just a little while.

 

[vantexan]

I wouldn't call them the worst employer ever. My dad worked for Minute Maid in Florida in the early 60's. They had him do some crazy things and he hurt his back routinely. Later on working for Sears they started laying off commissioned salesmen in favor of low paid hourly workers. Some salesmen literally had to be carried out after fainting when told they no longer had a job. Just a couple of examples I know. Certainly thousands of examples out there, it's a tough world. FedEx is certainly doing it on a mass scale but are they at the level of Walmart yet? What sets FedEx apart from many is the effort made to portray themselves as a corporate good citizen that cares about both it's employees and the communities it serves. They have to keep the newhires coming in, and the starting pay is attractive to many coming from nowhere McJobs. But the belief is there that if they land a job at FedEx they'll have a prosperous and secure future. FedEx then tries to get everything they can from them before they wise up and quit, or come to some midway understanding that if they continue to be pushed this way they will quit. Our ranks are full of people who do a competent job but won't go out of their way to do more like most newhires will. It's corporate detente, doing the bare minimum for the little I get in return. There is no future here, and you'd think people would do their due diligence in the Internet Age to find out the truth before subjecting themselves to this disappointing "career". But people usually have to find out for themselves, which makes many bitter when they realize they should have listened to so-and-so, and now are trapped paying on their car or whatever because they can't find anything else.

 

[CJinx]

I'll give you most of those but it's your fault when you hit a stationary object with a truck. Pay attention when behind the wheel.
For 2 and 5, I wouldn't give a damn what Fedex thinks, the customer should be sued.

 

[Route 66]

I'll give you most of those but it's your fault when you hit a stationary object with a truck. Pay attention when behind the wheel..

of course, that's just a given. But we're not talking about running into stationary objects here. We're talking about incidents such as getting run into by drunk/inattentive/careless drivers and having things come crashing down on top of us and attacked by vicious dogs and such.

I suppose when you come right down to it EVERYTHING is avoidable - just stay home.
But most of the time we're getting hanged for crap that's clearly beyond any reasonable means of our control. It doesn't even matter if you have a police report in your hand stating that you were completely blameless. FedEx doesn't care about that. They only want to crucify you

 

[Cactus]

They can use their convient lingo all they want. It doesn't have a leg to stand on in a court of law.

 

[whenIgetthere]

Last time I got hurt working the belt (courier on other side of belt threw package on belt, brake rotor rolls out of package, onto my foot), the senior manage and my manager were standing right there when it happened. Senior manager jokingly says "that's a preventable", to which I said eff u it is! Didn't realize he was joking until he said "wouldn't have happened if you had stayed in bed".

 

[hypo hanna]

Classy leadership there.

 

[I Am Jacks Damaged Box]

I'll give you most of those but it's your fault when you hit a stationary object with a truck. Pay attention when behind the wheel.

Quite easy to say in theory from the comfy confines of a QA cage. In practice, delivering in the dark is something entirely different...unless Frederick is springing for NVGs now.

I am so ecstatic that I am not a Courier anymore.

 

[CJinx]

Quite easy to say in theory from the comfy confines of a QA cage. In practice, delivering in the dark is something entirely different...unless Frederick is springing for NVGs now.

I am so ecstatic that I am not a Courier anymore.

My profession has nothing to do with this; this is about driving a multi-ton vehicle which is capable of causing death and destruction should the person operating it not treat it with the respect it deserves. When you hit an object that isn't moving, you're failing not only as a professional but as a regular driver as well. Accidents happen when people are either unfamiliar with the vehicle they're operating or they get complacent driving it. Hitting a telephone pole or tree or whatever because you didn't observe your surroundings before backing up is literally failing to 'anticipate the hazard'.

 

[I Am Jacks Damaged Box]

My profession has nothing to do with this; this is about driving a multi-ton vehicle which is capable of causing death and destruction should the person operating it not treat it with the respect it deserves. When you hit an object that isn't moving, you're failing not only as a professional but as a regular driver as well. Accidents happen when people are either unfamiliar with the vehicle they're operating or they get complacent driving it. Hitting a telephone pole or tree or whatever because you didn't observe your surroundings before backing up is literally failing to 'anticipate the hazard'.

Yes, your profession has everything to do with it. Your inexperience is very relevant to your oversimplification of the actual delivery aspect of the company. MFE wrote what he wrote and you are reading something that is not there. That, or you think that the Courier actually drives his/her Sprinter/P700 from on top of the roof.

By the way, I am not trying to pick a stink with you. I enjoy reading your posts, just not this one.

 

[MrFedEx]

My profession has nothing to do with this; this is about driving a multi-ton vehicle which is capable of causing death and destruction should the person operating it not treat it with the respect it deserves. When you hit an object that isn't moving, you're failing not only as a professional but as a regular driver as well. Accidents happen when people are either unfamiliar with the vehicle they're operating or they get complacent driving it. Hitting a telephone pole or tree or whatever because you didn't observe your surroundings before backing up is literally failing to 'anticipate the hazard'.

Sounds like something out of the SMITH System, which we don't use anymore because Fred is too cheap to pay the fees. What you don't get is that "anticpating the hazard" is used as a tool over here at Express to blame employees for accidents and injuries that were non-preventable. If you deliver to the same house for 10 years and you know there are no clearance issues and then a dead tree drops a branch you cannot see in the dark, how do you anticpate that hazard?

As someone else said, if a meteor fell from space and broke through the roof of your vehicle and caused you to crash, they'd blame you, because you left your tinfoil hat and Radio Shack meteor detector at home. "Holy Asteroid, Batman!!! You forgot the Bat Meteor Deflector back at the Batcave?" "Yes, Boy Wonder, I failed to anticipate the hazard".

Crap..all crap. From the company that IS crap.

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

friend all of those A-holes..they havent a clue

 

[59 Dano]

They can use their convient lingo all they want. It doesn't have a leg to stand on in a court of law.

What does a determination of preventable or non-preventable have to do with court?

 

[Cactus]

What does a determination of preventable or non-preventable have to do with court?

When the company gets another (rightfully deserved) lawsuit against them.

Wake up!

 

[hypo hanna]

What does a determination of preventable or non-preventable have to do with court?

Preventables lead to termination. Terminations lead to litigation.

I'm guessing you are not a driver dano.

 

[!Retired!]

FedEx puts those wordings into their books to cover their ass. We, as employees, must/will learn to cover ours. Whether you think their right or wrong isn't the issue. The fact is they are there and it would take an act from God to change them.

After all I've seen and heard after 13+ years, I'm seriously surprised there aren't more lawsuits brought against FedEx.

 

[MrFedEx]

FedEx puts those wordings into their books to cover their ass. We, as employees, must/will learn to cover ours. Whether you think their right or wrong isn't the issue. The fact is they are there and it would take an act from God to change them.

After all I've seen and heard after 13+ years, I'm seriously surprised there aren't more lawsuits brought against FedEx.

It wasn't always so ridiculous. This got rolling when the company began it's "Safety" campaign back in the 90's. Suddenly, everything was the employee's fault....even when it wasn't. And it just wasn't accidents, but also injuries.

One of my favorite FedEx moments was standing in the hallway as I listened to my SM on a conference call because he had left his door open and the phone on speaker. All of them were trying to figure out how they could blame an on-the-job injury on an employee's outside sports acitivities, even though there were witnesses who saw this person get injured.

FedEx is like a Hydra, with many evil heads squirming together in an effort to pin the blame on the employee and not pay out money. Sedgwick, Anthem, Aetna, CIGNA, and the rest of them are all part of the plan.

 

[Operational needs]

Suddenly, everything was the employee's fault....even when it wasn't. And it just wasn't accidents, but also injuries.

I had an incident one time where I stepped off the elevator in a high-rise apt building and they had just mopped. No warning signs anywhere. I slipped on it like ice and injured my knee. FedEx finding--preventable. I should have been aware of my surroundings. Seriously!? How? Stick my foot out of the elevator and test the floor every time? Few weeks later, manager goes on check ride with me and I watched him get off elevator in same building and never look at the floor. Luckily for him they hadn't just mopped the floor. It's a no-win situation for us because they will always have the upper hand.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

I had an incident one time where I stepped off the elevator in a high-rise apt building and they had just mopped. No warning signs anywhere. I slipped on it like ice and injured my knee. FedEx finding--preventable. I should have been aware of my surroundings. Seriously!? How? Stick my foot out of the elevator and test the floor every time? Few weeks later, manager goes on check ride with me and I watched him get off elevator in same building and never look at the floor. Luckily for him they hadn't just mopped the floor. It's a no-win situation for us because they will always have the upper hand.

I would have pissed myself laughing....just sayin