I was reading some of the posts from my "deaths at UPS" thread. Do you guys really not get irregs on top of almost every trailer??!! Doesn't matter if it's Hub or Comp. Loads, hell even most Metro's have irregs on top! Friday I only had one door that didn't have irregs on top, and that was an Old Navy. Sears is in a barn-door trailer so it's 10' tall, and it had like 50-60 110+ pound boxes on top. Is my hub really just that unsafe? Like pro-form, most trailers are floor to ceiling 149 lb. treadmills, and there's usually only one of us in there. I can't remember the last california door that didn't have at least 5 or 6 irregs on top. Most non-hub trailers have at least 3 walls fall on ya, and Hub load cases, the entire trailer is trashed by the time you get inside of it (it's called a bloody loadstrap! and smalls bags are NOT a good foundation) Blah... whatever... no wonder there are so many "struck by object" injuries at my hub.
Dangerous Hub?
- Thread starter Apollo
- Start date
RockyRogue
Agent of Change
What's almost as bad is irregs--125 lbs--beneath the flaps of a drop frame. I saw entirely too many of those from a certain UPS hub in Missouri! -Rocky
swiftshifter
New Member
Apollo,if you think its bad standing on the dock/in the trailer..while shifting we are on the ground 4 feet below the trailer floor(swing door trailers) and yes I agree about the over 70lbs on top..Some of the shifters where I work have been saying,if one positive about low volume its trailers not full so packages not falling out on you -when opening doors...
Not my hub, if we ask about the trailers, they get mad at us. The auditors never show up anyways... if they do, it's 1/2 hour later and the trailers are pretty much done.
As for drop frames, we mostly only get them from Denver. They've been getting better at not putting irregs in the bottom. Though one day a few weeks ago we had a bunch of engine parts on miniature palets in the bottom. The lightest, out of 7, weighing 87 lbs. I was sweeping that night, so of course i have to do it on my own.
As for the shifter. We only open swing/barn door trailers one door at a time, unload for about 5-10 feet, then the shifter comes back and opens the other door. The only time i've ever seen a box fall from those trailers when a shifter is opening the second door is in an Omaha Steak truck, and those boxes shift on there own. The ice makes them slide, the saran wrap makes them slide slowly. So when he opened the second door... about 10-15 walls shifted... took us about 2 hours to clean that mess up. That was a fun night. He wasn't hurt... but i think he twisted his ankle.
Speaking of Omaha, anyone had a trailer pulled with them inside it? That's always fun... especially in Omaha. Since the floor is ice-coated metal.
RockyRogue
Agent of Change
In the case I mentioned, the supe told me there would be a phone call to the Missouri hub in addition to pictures. He told me the safety manager had gone livid when told about it. I saw two suits poking around the rig and shaking their heads a few minutes later. It didn't help that the next day I had another load in the same condition
x 10. -RockyCompletely agreed! I knew a supe that got knocked over the head by a 40 lb package from a load out of Ohio. You could hear his scream of rage on the other side of the hub. -Rocky
rod
Retired 22 years
They are usually the last stuff out of the trailer so by the time the loaders see them the package cars are full--------only place to load them is throw them on top with the help of a buddy. Seen it happen many times
I think I want to transfer to Florida.
nomadder
Member
Actually when the DOT inspects UPS trailers on the highway (which is few and far between), they can impound the trailer without a load retainer (due to Hazmat concerns). About 2 years ago a feeder from my HUB was pulled over and given a warning. With service failures caused by an impounded trailer, maybe they'll start using load retainers---but obviously they should be used for the safety of our unloaders and load quality!
gandydancer
Well-Known Member
Nope. Irregs are FIRST out of the trailer, because they're the last loaded. But a disproportionate proportion of the irregs end up being stacked up until the end of the shift, and in the Hub irreg trains keep running long after the sort is down (and I assume that's also what's happening on preload). Anyway, if the choice is between (a) leaving them in the building, (b) sending a trailer with a less than 5% load or (c)making the volume fit by loading irregs floor to ceiling for the last 5-10%... well, (c) is what happens.
Can't get the Twilight to use load straps when they shift caps between doors for top-off by the Hub, so if you can't get one supe to hand off a trailer without fallen walls to the very next shift, good luck getting him to look out for someone halfway across the country.
And someone mentioned hazmats. The videos I saw said they're supposed to be loaded on the floor, braced and separate from other hazmat classes, throughout the load. But someone made the decision to keep them off the belts and deliver them with the irreg trains. So now they're piled up until the trailer is ready to pull and all thrown in together, usually loose, at the very end of the load.
Have you ever read the "Wellness and Safety First -- Expectation Zero Declaration of Management Commitment" that the suits are all supposed to sign? Insert horselaugh here.
gandydancer
Well-Known Member
Must be almost as much fun as the flatbed pulling away with you inside still unloading the rollers, inside with you but attached as well to the chute. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! Oops. Or when the carrier detaches from the grate and takes off, dropping the rollers into the gap. Big fun!
chev
Nightcrawler
Not too many supes give a crap in most of the hubs I go to. It is rare to find a decent load strap or bar and most of the supes don't care or know how to properly place them. You can't imagine how many times I have seen a supe put a load strap on 3 or 4 feet from the wall or when they do place it close to it they don't tighten it up. It's like they are saying "hey, I put it on. Thats all I was told to do". These things need to be followed up.
I was shifting once, and had to move a trailer to a door. I back under it, get out to hook up, and notice the whole thing is covered in frost. Even out to the glad hands! (Keep in mind it's not a reefer unit and it's 70 degrees out).
Turns out it's 100% full of Omaha Steak coolers!
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