Hand Trucks Accidents ETC.

HTSCarlB

HTSCarlB
I was wondering if anyone out there has heard of an accident that happened a few years ago regarding a female UPS driver that lost her eye and her job. According to several UPS drivers she was returning from an airport run in Virginia and had a very serious road accident. Apparently she swerved her P500 to avoid another vehicle which was driving recklessly, her hand truck struck her in the face and caused her to loose control of her UPS truck. The UPS vehicle overturned several times into the medium and the hand truck struck her several more times in the face as the vehicle continued to roll. The hand truck was not secured properly and she eventually lost her eye. UPS management blamed her for the accident and terminated her immediately. She is or was fighting the termination and fighting for workmans compensation. Can anyone out there help me identify the location and date of this accident? I would sincerely appreciate your help, if you know something.

If you know of any other accidents caused by loose or falling hand trucks or hand trucks that injured UPS or FedEx drivers please let me know.
You can also contact me at [email protected] Thanks again for your help.
 

upsgrunt

Well-Known Member
Do you work for the law firm of Haagan and Daas? It is against the TOS to solicit the info you are looking for here. In addition, if the bulkhead door is closed while the vehicle is in motion as per the rules, a blow to the head is impossible.
 

filthpig

Well-Known Member
As per the above response...if you do as you should and keep the door closed, this won't happen. This is particularly important when in traffic and not on residential side streets. In addition, when in a residential area, I keep my 2-wheeler secured in the rear with a bungee cord to keep it from rolling around.
 

evilleace

Well-Known Member
Hand truck should have been secured and you shouldn't be trolling for info here, also what is with all the handtruck interest recently.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Hindsight is 20/20 but a properly secured hand cart in the cargo area may have lessened the damage in this accident and perhaps she would not have suffered the injuries that she did.
 

Ms Spoken

Well-Known Member
Think about this for a moment. This driver was in a death trap of P500. Her/his bulkhead could have opened when the truck lost control. I remember driving some that when you made a right hand turn the door would fly open. Just something to think about.
 
MsSpoken is right, I rolled a P5 and have looked a several others roll by other drivers. With every one, the bulk head door was lodged open wide enough for the hand truck to go through.
 

upsgrunt

Well-Known Member
The claim was that the cart struck her in the face, causing her to lose control. It apparently kept attacking her during the accident.
 
The claim was that the cart struck her in the face, causing her to lose control. It apparently kept attacking her during the accident.
If that is the case,why was the hand truck in the cab unrestrained to start with? I have had P5s maxed out when the HT wouldn't fit in the back, but never moved the truck till it was secured. That's simple common sense.
 

UPSGUY72

Well-Known Member
She was returning from an airport run even if the back of the 500 was stuffed full that hand cart should have be buried and unable to move in the back along with all the packages.

Sounds like some lawyer trying to find someone that works for UPS to give him an anwser that he wants to hear.

In this case the driver was at fault not UPS. If the hand cart was where in always should be it would be impossible to get hit with it if you got in and accident.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Yes, perhaps it was her fault for not securing the hand cart. Perhaps not, we don't really have enough info.

But I don't see why she would not be able to get Workmans Comp.
Her fault or not should have nothing to do with Comp.
 

InTheRed

Well-Known Member
The handcart should have been secured and the door should have been closed. As upsguy72 said if she was returning from the airport with a full car the handcart wouldn't be able to move. If she was returning with an empty car, handcart may have been loose but the door should have been closed.

The door should always be closed when the vehicle is in motion, but on a highway with an empty truck? At that point you are asking for trouble.
 

local804

Well-Known Member
And maybe he is a family member looking for some information to help out. Enough with the flaming already....
If it is against the tos, let a moderator figure it out and give it up already.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
When I read the original post, the first thing I thought is that this was posted by an employee of the law firm Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. This wouldn't be the first time that an ambulance chaser has tried to find business on here

Like Over9 pointed out, this driver was on the clock and the injuries would be covered by workman's comp. I got the impression the handtruck was in the cab not properly fastened in. I would never carry a handtruck in the cab. I am very sorry that she lost one of her eyes, and I hope she can see well with the other one. Not enough info on what she was fired for exactly, the original poster stated she lost control while trying to avoid a wreckless driver. For her sake, I hope she had some witnesses that saw that, it wouldn't be much of a lawsuit otherwise. It would seem to me that if she wasn't the cause of the accident, that an inside job should have been offered to her if possible..
 

BLACKBOX

Life is a Highway...
If you know of any other accidents caused by loose or falling hand trucks or hand trucks that injured UPS or FedEx drivers please let me know.
You can also contact me at [email protected] Thanks again for your help.

Just today while carting a a full handtruck, the wheels struck a small rock and I fell over face first over my handtruck in the middle of the business district. I want to sue for the company for not clearing debris leading up the their front door. I could have lost an eye too!
 

drewed

Shankman
Or a testicle, drastically decreasing your chances to procreate causing pain and suffering for you and your signifigant other...
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I always keep my handtruck in the back, but if I do need to keep it up front I secure it to the passenger seat by wrapping the seat belt around it and buckling it in.
 
I always keep my handtruck in the back, but if I do need to keep it up front I secure it to the passenger seat by wrapping the seat belt around it and buckling it in.
Not my favorite thing to do but I have and may again. When I wrap the seat belt around the HT, I weave it between the frame work of the HT. everytime I have done this the PC was bricked solid both FD & RD. I once took several bungy ?...bungie .?...cords and lashed the HT to the back of a P5, what a funny sight.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Just today while carting a a full handtruck, the wheels struck a small rock and I fell over face first over my handtruck in the middle of the business district. I want to sue for the company for not clearing debris leading up the their front door. I could have lost an eye too!

Did you scan your walkway and keep your eyes ahead of your work?
 

HTSCarlB

HTSCarlB
I'm not a law firm or insurance company! I have worked in the freight and parcel industry for many years and I have a relatives and close friends who currently work for UPS, DHL, FedEx, Yellow and Roadway. I've worked for Ward Trucking and Yellow Freight and I still have my CDL. I'm definitely not a blood sucking attorney, because my hands still get dirty when I come home from work.

Actually... I'm collecting information from professional route drivers, police accident reports, internet sources and compensation cases pertaining to vehicle accidents and worker injuries caused by unsecured hand trucks. I was told from two friends who work for UPS that Brown Cafe was a huge resource of information and professional drivers that may have witnessed or heard of these types of events.

Last month I was contacted by a UPS driver who personally witnessed a hand truck fall from a Pepsi Cola truck on I95 north bound. (Philadelphia area) A vehicle behind the beverage truck attempted to swerve around the hand truck, however the car hit the hand truck, knocked it into another vehicle and then he rolled his car several times. The driver of the first car was thrown from the vehicle and remains injured for life.

I patented a new retaining apparratus that quickly and safely secures commercial hand trucks to route delivery vehicles. We started a new company that markets a new safety and productivity device to the commercial delivery industry. We were asked by several large and small beverage, freight and parcel companies if we could verify accidents, injury and liability issues that could effect their businesses and leave them vulnerable to liability.
www.handtrucksystems.com or Google: HTS Ultra-Rack

When I heard about this female driver that was badly injured, the story came from a UPS driver that was informed about it during a UPS safety meeting a few years back. The other question that I curious about is that on rare occasions I have seen some UPS drivers secure their hand truck to the right corner on the rear running board and stretch a rubber strap through the hand truck down to the door latch (Hyde Park NY.) I also found a photo of a UPS route driver doing the same in Washington DC. I thought this was a little dangerous for the highway.

If anyone out there has seen or heard of these types of accidents, it would be great to hear from. We sincerely appreciate your help.
 
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