Hand Trucks Accidents ETC.

[drewed]

I think its a great idea, but I could see IE it takes too much time to dismount the vehicle get the HT and then come back into the PC to get the packages, and possibly a safety hazard since most people probaly wont take it down correctly and use one hand and drop it on themselves

 

[Catatonic]

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

I guess if you went to court over this you would have to testclefy and your testiclemony would go down in the penal record?

 

[speeddemon]

How did the hand truck hit her if she was driving and the bulkhead door was closed?

 

[Paid-over-in-Maine]

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've been there before!

 

[PASinterference]

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.

UPS wont buy your rack.Many deaths and lawsuits must occur first.UPS is reactive-not pro active.Besides that,the CEO has never seen a hand truck.

 

[trplnkl]

Carl, what an impressive piece of equipment and the website is quite nice also. Unfortunately, PASinterference is correct UPS won't spend the money to install these devices. They wouldn't even put in 3 point seat belts until they were government mandated.
One thing I didn't like about the system is wet weather would make your HT nasty to the point of not being able to use the HT.

 

[HTSCarlB]

You right, someone needs to get killed or hurt badly before anyone does something. Actually... were now finding out that many parcel and beverage companies have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle and hide liability accidents caused by hand trucks. Some of the lawsuits get into the millions of dollars, because of deaths or physical diability.

We did a trade show last year and discovered an Anhueser Busch beer distributor that lost a hand truck off the back of their side-loader semi trailer. The vehicle was traveling 65 mph down a large interstate highway in Texas and it caused a UPS tractor with doubles to roll over on it's side. Luckily the UPS driver was not seriously injured.

Our HTS device is a safety and productivity enhancement tool. It can also increase cargo space in smaller Sprinter and Ford vans, reduce freight damage and it eliminates forgetting your hand truck and having to retrieve it several miles back. Our time studies can prove that we can save some drivers 15-30 minutes per day. I have worked out of a small cargo vans with a hand truck. I usually moved or shuffled my hand truck away from my shelves and packages more than I used it. Sorry about that... I didn't mean to sound like a salesman.

Our entry into the beverage and food service market continues to grow. Maybe in the future more parcel companies will understand our HTS Ultra-Rack 8-10 month payback and realize the other large list of other safety and productivity benefits.

UPS drivers see alot out there and if you see or hear about another beverage truck, food truck or highway accident caused by a loose hand trucks or a hand trucks just laying on the interstate, please give me a shout when you have the time.
Thanks again for your help.

 

[brownrodster]

Back when I got my CDL a huge deal was made about keeping tools and cargo out of the cab area. Because in an accident these things will fly around the cab and can kill the driver. The driver should keep the handtruck in back and keep the bulkhead door closed. If you were to drive through DOT scales with cargo in your cab they can ticket you.

 

[HTSCarlB]

Carl, what an impressive piece of equipment and the website is quite nice also. Unfortunately, PASinterference is correct UPS won't spend the money to install these devices. They wouldn't even put in 3 point seat belts until they were government mandated.
One thing I didn't like about the system is wet weather would make your HT nasty to the point of not being able to use the HT.

Thank you and thanks for the compliment about the HTS Ultra-Rack!

Your right... in some cases the hand truck will get a little dirty on the side rails. This depends on the winter and dirt area regions or the local climate. Beverage companies have been carrying hand trucks on the front and rear of route trucks acroos the country for over 40 years. We began studies several years ago to see the wear and dirt issues. The hand truck rinses clean in rain and the cargo never seemed to be damaged by some water or dirt residue on the narrow hand truck rails. Contact was very little or zero to most boxes. On occassion in heavy Winter weather the hand truck handle may get dirty if the rain or wind doesn't remove any road dirt before the driver grabs it.
When a driver is wheeling his hand truck in the rain or through muddy or snow covered sidewalks the condition of the hand truck frame was the same. Another benefit of the HTS turned out to be that less mud and snow was tracked back into the cargo area of parcel vans and armored
car vehicles. This means less water, dirt, salt and corrosion to the steel floors. Hopefully keeping the floor less wet, preventing slips and falls and keeping our fragile cargo from getting damaged.

 

[TGD]

Not making it right but... I'm sure some of you remember the old 60 pound black iron carts and bulkheads made of plywood with no locks and bad latches. The cart was always on the step and the bulkhead door just opened and closed on each turn. Back and forth. When a supervisor rode along, he either stood all day or brought a folding chair and sat in the bulkhead door opening. No jump seats. Oh and hitting a bump while turning left launched your clipboard(not DIAD) right out the passenger door and under the rear wheels. Ahh, the good old days.

 

[pickup]

I guess if you went to court over this you would have to testclefy and your testiclemony would go down in the penal record?

what's next? jokes involving a well hung jury?

 

[over9five]

what's next? jokes involving a well hung jury?

Don't give him any ideas!!

 

[disneyworld]

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.

I think it's Dewey, Cheatem and Howe!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Covemastah]

Not making it right but... I'm sure some of you remember the old 60 pound black iron carts and bulkheads made of plywood with no locks and bad latches. The cart was always on the step and the bulkhead door just opened and closed on each turn. Back and forth. When a supervisor rode along, he either stood all day or brought a folding chair and sat in the bulkhead door opening. No jump seats. Oh and hitting a bump while turning left launched your clipboard(not DIAD) right out the passenger door and under the rear wheels. Ahh, the good old days.

The amount of guys here who remember those days are fading like the delivery notices that were only printed in English lol I remember those days and also the BIG PIG 1100 with the air brakes!!!!!

 

[rod]

The amount of guys here who remember those days are fading like the delivery notices that were only printed in English lol I remember those days and also the BIG PIG 1100 with the air brakes!!!!!

I was going to comment on how I always carried my hand cart up front with me ( at least until I had room for it in the back) but figured I would get nothing but flamed for it. To be stuck in a package car with a bulkhead door that opened and closed everytime you took a turn was a thrill. Not quite as exciting as driving a P400 60 mph on a washboard road with both doors open and no seatbelt to be had.

 

[TGD]

I was going to comment on how I always carried my hand cart up front with me ( at least until I had room for it in the back) but figured I would get nothing but flamed for it. To be stuck in a package car with a bulkhead door that opened and closed everytime you took a turn was a thrill. Not quite as exciting as driving a P400 60 mph on a washboard road with both doors open and no seatbelt to be had.

Rod and cove,
Sounds like we have a lot in common. I look forward to seeing more of your posts. At least those old 400's had a dashboard that would hold about fifteen stops

 

[Covemastah]

THANKS & WELCOME TO THE B.C !!!! Rod is the wise man here and sometimes a wise guy lol !! He is retired and I am a newbie !! I only have 20 in! I was probaly one of the last hired @ UPS that was using a real clipboard!! The baby boomers are taking over the Mothership with their baggy pants, tats and long hair with black sneakers they call shoes!!If they want to ""jam"" the DIAD from Headquarters,all they do is hold it up to all the hardware in their nose & ears lol

 

[rod]

Rod and cove,
Sounds like we have a lot in common. I look forward to seeing more of your posts. At least those old 400's had a dashboard that would hold about fifteen stops

Welcome TGD!!! It's always nice to see another dinosaur show up on the BC. It's a dirty job but some of us have to keep these young whipper-snappers informed on how things "used to be". It don't take long to see that some things at the Brown Machine never change. It's also fun to poke the bees nest every once in awhile.

 

[rod]

THANKS & WELCOME TO THE B.C !!!! Rod is the wise man here and sometimes a wise guy lol !! He is retired and I am a newbie !! I only have 20 in! I was probaly one of the last hired @ UPS that was using a real clipboard!! The baby boomers are taking over the Mothership with their baggy pants, tats and long hair with black sneakers they call shoes!!If they want to ""jam"" the DIAD from Headquarters,all they do is hold it up to all the hardware in their nose & ears lol

I've also been accused of being a wise--- . I'm always amazed when any driver that has worked with paper delivery records and a clipboard actually knows how to post on a fourm.

 

[upsgrunt]

I sure would like to have several of those huge silver clips that we used to use with the clipboards- they are handy around the house. Were they "UPS" items?
I still have some of the delivery notices that were about 4" by 9" and were NOT sticky. I'm hoping someday they will be a collector item.