MrFedEx
Engorged Member
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.
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.