UPS employee falls ill due to extreme heat
- Thread starter Saddle Crook
- Start date
iamupser
Grease Monkey
They can "say" all they want about staying "hydrated", "work safe", etc... but in the end their words are just words with no meaning.
Recently a driver was on his way back to the building (30+ year vet), and his exact words were "I was starting to feel delirious and dehydrated". He had ran out of water so he stopped at a store, bought a drink and continued on his way back to the building.
The next day he was reprimanded, docked 7 minutes (per telematics info), and humiliated in front of his peers with Depth of Knowledge questions, etc... I guess UPS would have rather he stopped his package car, called 911 for heat related illness and blown the whole load coming back to the building. UPS should have thanked him and made sure he was OK. What's the difference between ANY worker in the hub getting a drink of water at the fountain, or grabbing a bottled water. Drivers need to be WAY more alert on the road for the safety of the public. The fact that this happened is despicable IMO because all you see and hear is the PREACHING about safety, but it's words only. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS UPS! UPS actions towards this driver and so many others is what matters, not what you post on some safety board.
And if you think UPS follows ALL OSHA regs, you'd be wrong. UPS was cited for excessive carbon monoxide 4/20/2010 (GOOGLE "OSHA Citation #308817717") and it's been over 460 days, and all UPS did was run their heaters for 4 hours instead of 8 hours to come in under the CO PEL (Permissible Exposure Level), instead of correcting the high emissions from the heaters. In fact many of you probably work in buildings with these recirculating direct fired heaters (it's a heater without a heat exchanger, think of your home furnace with a flue pipe vented inside). They are still in violation of other minimum CFM requirements, and the heaters emit 4 x's the level of CO as permitted by law, yet UPS can drag this out because of who they are. Myself and coworkers have acquired adult onset asthma and various other ailments since working in this environment.
Happy Wednesday!
Recently a driver was on his way back to the building (30+ year vet), and his exact words were "I was starting to feel delirious and dehydrated". He had ran out of water so he stopped at a store, bought a drink and continued on his way back to the building.
The next day he was reprimanded, docked 7 minutes (per telematics info), and humiliated in front of his peers with Depth of Knowledge questions, etc... I guess UPS would have rather he stopped his package car, called 911 for heat related illness and blown the whole load coming back to the building. UPS should have thanked him and made sure he was OK. What's the difference between ANY worker in the hub getting a drink of water at the fountain, or grabbing a bottled water. Drivers need to be WAY more alert on the road for the safety of the public. The fact that this happened is despicable IMO because all you see and hear is the PREACHING about safety, but it's words only. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS UPS! UPS actions towards this driver and so many others is what matters, not what you post on some safety board.
And if you think UPS follows ALL OSHA regs, you'd be wrong. UPS was cited for excessive carbon monoxide 4/20/2010 (GOOGLE "OSHA Citation #308817717") and it's been over 460 days, and all UPS did was run their heaters for 4 hours instead of 8 hours to come in under the CO PEL (Permissible Exposure Level), instead of correcting the high emissions from the heaters. In fact many of you probably work in buildings with these recirculating direct fired heaters (it's a heater without a heat exchanger, think of your home furnace with a flue pipe vented inside). They are still in violation of other minimum CFM requirements, and the heaters emit 4 x's the level of CO as permitted by law, yet UPS can drag this out because of who they are. Myself and coworkers have acquired adult onset asthma and various other ailments since working in this environment.
Happy Wednesday!
It's been hot here in the Northeast Sad Crook. As you suggested I used some common sense today and paced myself. I came prepared to work, not complain.
Hubrat is correct. When I started on the preload in 1978 the feeders and facilities were hot in the summer and cold in the winter. No one forced you to work for UPS. Either suck it up or find another place to work. McDonald's has A.C. Would you like the value meal today?
iamupser
Grease Monkey
This whole "suck it up or quit" is a disgrace. If it were up to corporations there would be no OSHA, no overtime laws, etc...
Don't promote safety and hydration on 1 hand, and discipline on the other. Isn't that the definition of a hypocrite?
Thank God none of you were the 1's fighting for Unions in the early 20th century...(if the shoe fits wear it)
Don't promote safety and hydration on 1 hand, and discipline on the other. Isn't that the definition of a hypocrite?
Thank God none of you were the 1's fighting for Unions in the early 20th century...(if the shoe fits wear it)
Integrity
Binge Poster
705red
Browncafe Steward
For all you company kiss asses, please get off your knees and use a handi wipe on your lips. Its hot every summer, I agree but when you bust out routes and send drivers/employees home forcing the ones that are working harder and longer because of some dip **** in an air conditioned office I have a problem and so should you. OSHA has guidelines to use during heat warnings, and one of them is too reduce the workload, not add to it.
Busting routes means less preloaders to load, means drivers work longer in the heat bringing pick up pieces back later and now the twilight has to work later to unload the pieces. Its a chain reaction and I mean dozens have dropped here in the Chicago area. Cach has had about 20 ambulances and another one today. The death of this poor employee is being looked into by the union as we speak. Thats all that can be said right now during the investigation. You have egress issues on the trailer loaders which is a safety violation on a normal day, now you have even less air flow into an already hot trailer.
Please go to OSHA websites and get educated instead of acting like know it alls.
Busting routes means less preloaders to load, means drivers work longer in the heat bringing pick up pieces back later and now the twilight has to work later to unload the pieces. Its a chain reaction and I mean dozens have dropped here in the Chicago area. Cach has had about 20 ambulances and another one today. The death of this poor employee is being looked into by the union as we speak. Thats all that can be said right now during the investigation. You have egress issues on the trailer loaders which is a safety violation on a normal day, now you have even less air flow into an already hot trailer.
Please go to OSHA websites and get educated instead of acting like know it alls.
greengrenades
To be the man, you gotta beat the man.
I'm sorry but if you can't handle the heat and the hard work you shouldn't work at UPS. I did it for years and I dealt with it. I see it so many times at my hub people fall out from "heat exhaustion" but really they just don't want to work and want to get paid.
Re-Raise
Well-Known Member
Come on man, how about a little empathy for fellow employees. Each person reacts differently to stress from the heat.
I am making it through allright also but that doesn't mean I am not concerned for the people I work with.
thessalonian13
Well-Known Member
They won't put fans in the trucks because all fans will do is move hot air around.
MC4YOU2
Wherever I see Trump, it smells like he's Putin.
We have management assigned to "move hot air around" from the comfort of a 68º office.
MC4YOU2
Wherever I see Trump, it smells like he's Putin.
Strongly agree! It's surely cooled as is fans across your sweaty head and torso, but it's been so many years since they pulled the "non original equipment" fans, I have to rely solely on the pcm for my daily windage allowance.
iowa boy
Well-Known Member
UPS doesn't believe in or need scientific facts, they have their own and their facts are always right.
satellitedriver
Moderator
I don't care who you are,...that's funny.
satellitedriver
Moderator
IE will look into this.
An equation must be formulated for the the power draw from the battery and calculate if the life time of the battery is diminished.
Same calculations used by IE that determined that a power steering vehicle wears a front tire down by 1000 miles over a manual non powered steering package car.
Maybe we should use hand fans like a we did in church down south?
Nah, the safety committee would argue we need both hands on the wheel.
Similar threads
- Locked
