Are Unload Stands Unsafe?

M

moo

Guest
They are safe as long as they are used properly... Using them properly does not mean 50,000 PPH... Using them properly means using safe work methods and labels up...

Watch the videoson the UPS website

Look at how slow the flow is, THAT IS PROPER FLOW TO ALLOW PROPER PPH... Not the ficticious numbers the center manager and supes pull from fantasy land...

Once you meet those numbers they will come up with new numbers and then new numbers... They force employees to cut corners and work unsafe to meet fantasy numbers...

Bottom line... Load stands are safe but slow down production numbers...
Is that a realistic pace that they show in the videos? Looks much more relaxed than what I was picturing. I don't work for UPS, in case you can't tell.
 

Covemastah

Hoopah drives the boat Chief !!
use the methods you were trained with!!! everything at ups has a purpose even though it may seem stupid!!! these things were learned the hard way from 100 yrs of people before you!! you load their way or unload their way as safe as you can and if it's not fast enough for them [it never will be ] just say i'm doing the best i can at the way you trained me ! you get paid by the trailer ? i didn't think so ..... the job is hard enough don't make it worse!
 

gandydancer

Well-Known Member
what kind of damage do you have to a solid piece of molded plastic that causes it to be unsafe?

Jeez... Why do you think the operation has to keep ordering new ones, Tie Guy? Do you think they are getting lost? Walking out through the guard gate? No? Maybe you think they are being retired because they become cosmetically imperfect? Try dented, out of square and unstable, ripped and splitting bottoms, anti-slip tape worn off, ... Open your eyes and look at the big yellow things in all the stages of their journey to the garbage compacter. It's not like they're hard to find.
 

evilleace

Well-Known Member
Load stands for me are only useful with over 70's on the top hardly anyone in my center uses them they are a burden and just get in the way as far as being unsafe not so much but they definitely slow down unloading.
 

sortaisle

Livin the cardboard dream
Yes they are unsafe i have been working as an unloader for 4 years now and i have only actually found load stands useful a few times mostly they are in the way and if u ask me just putting one in your trailer is unsafe. i once was backing away from a falling wall and triped over backwards and hurt my wrist and back and when im on them i feel unsafe and worry about where i would go if a wall were to fall but i guess thats just a experienced unloaders opinion and not a supervisor who doesn't even remember what its like to unload

You must hustle, cause if that happened over here in WA they would have crapped down our throats for not looking where you step and step where you look.
 

sx2700

Banned
Maybe if UPS would stop hiring women and 90lb weaklings to load trailers it wouldn't be an issue. I never had any problem putting heavyweight packages on the top of the load without load stands.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Maybe if UPS would stop hiring women and 90lb weaklings to load trailers it wouldn't be an issue. I never had any problem putting heavyweight packages on the top of the load without load stands.


I have personally seen, as have most of us, "women and 90 lb weaklings" run circles around a lot of the guys, including all star high school athletes, so you may want to back off on the generalization.
 

evilleace

Well-Known Member
Also I am not a 90 lb. weakling but I would rather use a load stand to take an over 70 off the top than have it fall on me. You shouldn't even load over 70's on the top last week a 80 lb and 90 lb were both on top of the same wall on fell on a guy and I had to go get them off because he couldn't breathe so just because you can get them up there doesn't mean they are easy to get down.
 

IDoLessWorkThanMost

Well-Known Member
Here is my take/advice (after seeing this threads from a hell of a long time ago!)

Unload stands must be INSIDE the trailer, but not necessarily in use.

I have unloaded occasionally over the years. It is important to have a sturdy, reliable loadstand. If you are not given one, walk around the primary and find one. If management questions what you're doing, tell them your load stand is not suitable for work. Then he /she will run around and find one. If they do not (bad mood, disrespectful, unhelpful), and tell you to continue, respectfully tell them that you are going to find a shop steward and someone from saftey and document the fact that you are not given suitable equipment.


From managements point of view, you must have it there so they are covered incase you are injured. They can say the emplolyee had his/her tools for the job, and if you are hurt they provided you the necessary equipment to do the job and the employee knew to utilize it if necessary.
 

haydendavid380

is property of UPS
I'm 5'7" so I use them all the time, and I work in the preload. The only problem I have had with was when half of the stand was on the dock, and half was on the rear bumper of a package car, and the driver pulled away, which caused a fall. But other then that I love 'em!
 

UPSNewbie

Well-Known Member
I'm sort of a jolly green', so I rarely use them, but they are extremely helpful when the package walls are leaning away from you. :wink2:
 

Jigawatts

Well-Known Member
Just about everything in UPS Land is a contradiction. They tell me to use load stands because they're safer (and so I can stack higher). But where are my three points of contact?
 
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