Would you risk termination by refusing to operate unsafe equipment?

[pc mechanic]

worked as ups mechanic for 30+ years. the drivers all say that they will not drive unsafe package cars, but they all do! at least in the centers that i worked in. in the am managment would get them to take the car if at all possable, which was most of the time!

 

[over9five]

Welcome to Brown Cafe, pc mechanic!

Tell us some of the more unsafe cars you have seen taken out on the road.

 

[stevetheupsguy]

Just a thought......

Most of you say you would not driver an unsafe vehicle - yet everyday you make your own decision to be unsafe

talking/texting on your cell phone/blue tooth while driving our truck and we tell you not to because its unsafe. (oh by the way you are not talking to us 99% of the time)Don't have a cell phone!

you drive around (does not matter how far the vehicle travels) with the bulk head door open - we told you its unsafe
You got me, though only in neighborhoods with frequent stops. I know that this doesn't make it right. I promise to try to change this behavior.
you have a large radio strapped down in the cab - we told you its unsafe
No need for music, not with all the voices in my head.

you are never prepared to yield at intersection - we told you its unsafe
Always yield, even to pedestrians.

you unnecessarily back down residential driveways - we told you its unsafe Haven't been in a residential driveway in over one year.

you back down the street to the correct house because you went by the house while looking at your diad - we told you its unsafe
Haven't done this since it was pointed out to me on and on area observation.
you park next to the curb on busy road and you do not put your four ways on (rarely do you do it cause your methods suck..) - we told you its unsafe
You got me again. Been meaning to get with our mechanic to fix my four ways button, as it hurts to push it in with my finger.
and everyone's favorite - not wearing your seatbelt - we told you its unsafe Sorry Dragon, you won't catch me on this one. I've promised my children that I would ALWAYS buckle up.

all of sudden you feel unsafe -now you want to tell us its unsafe........

I just thought you may want to know why some of us may not have any compassion for you when you call us.

You dont have to have compasion, just follow the law, I dont need a hug afterwards.

I do, and maybe a small kiss on the forehead.

Damn, I wish I could remember what the formula is for adjusting headlights. Something like 15 feet away, they should hit the wall at about 3 feet. (?) They are easy to adjust, all you need is a philips head screw driver. Where's MFB when ya need him? LOL

LOL, 15' away and hitting 18' is more like my PC.

You forgot leaving the keys in the ignition or a spare key in the bulkhead. Or how about my favorite, leaving the car running while delivering. If you know that any of these violations are going on then by all means enforce them. You won't get an argument from me and I'm a steward. Obviously, management isn't doing their job if drivers are comfortable doing these things. Anyone with half a brain could spot these bad habits on an OJS ride as they fumble through the day out of their routine. As a member of a safety committee, if I witness these things happening out on area or in the yard I will give the driver a friendly tip and remind them that drivers have been fired for these things. All the more reason I welcome telematics. The vast majority of drivers who do it right on a daily basis will feel the same. It's interesting that 90% of the drivers who continue to practice these unsafe methods are bonus drivers or relatively new and haven't had any real extensive training because they make it through without any accidents and their overallowed is within reason. Those drivers are just plain lucky and so is UPS. They will tell you point blank that so and so supe knows about it and never said anything. I'm not saying all OCS's don't do their job but production is still at the forefront of some over safety.

Well said!

Those same OCS's who have turned a blind eye to these practices will be the same ones who will gravitate to changing time cards and will be leaving the company soon thereafter.

Not soon enough!

Whats funny is alot of what you mentioned happens when sups ride with the employee. Anyone remember the photo someone took of their sup not wearing his belt????

I truely find that hard to believe. I have yet to catch one supervisor with out a seatbelt on - even inside of the building.

We had a visiting sup ride the side of the truck on the passenger side like a trash man through the building because he was on the phone and could not get the jump seat down one handed (I know it doesn't make sense). When someone called him on it he said, "You got me" and gave them a t-shirt from the safety awards closet as is the practice in our building if you catch a sup doing something unsafe. And just think, if I don't wear my seat belt I get fired.

I'd like to thank red for digging up this little tidbit. I'll be hearing about this for sure.

I'm glad they didn't find that supe pinned behind a feeder. The T-Shirt would have been used to cover his mangled body.

 

[Shifting Contents]

Or they could have put the shirt on an orange cone between the door bumper and then sent it home as a replacement.

 

[pickup]

In answering the question ( posted in the title of the thread) to myself, I found the quick and definitive way to answer it was to rephrase it this way " Would you risk termination by operating unsafe equipment?" . By doing that , I put both "risking termination" and "operating unsafe equipment" on the same side of the ledger where they belong, in my opinion. If by operating that unsafe equipment, it puts you in a position of having your job taken away from you as a result of the actions due to the unsafe equipment, i.e an accident, then I think it is a no brainer. Refuse to drive that vehicle unless it is fixed or replaced with another one.

I suppose it is easier for a tractor to be swapped out for another than it is for a package car that is already loaded so maybe that option of swapping out is more readily accepted in feeders than it would be for the package delivery side of operations.

That much being said, be a little creative, carry with you extra bulbs(the mechanics generally are happy to supply you with them, emphasis on "generally"). A marker light being out ain't a big deal but a turn signal that doesn't work can result in an accident and a ticket for "failure to signal" which places the blame on you as a driver. If the problem can be fixed with a new bulb, great. If you can trace the wire and find the break , great. If not, then don't drive and if you do(free will), be sure you are aware of the consequences that can result from the equipment that is defective.


That's all I gotta say for the time being.

 

[pickup]

upstate I think the poll as posed is a no brainer. everyone within those narrow confines will answer the same way.I've seen this particular scenario play out before. Clearly the driver has the right to refuse to move the equipment based on safety reasons. Clearly management should never threaten discipline for this refusal. Step past that issue and it is possible to safely bring the equipment back with high beams and four ways and I know of many dedicated feeder drivers that would have done so to make service on the packages.

I know we have many of those guys lurking in the background I'll challenge you to speak up before this point gets twisted all to hell.

Yup, the high beam issue. Take out your philips head screw driver loosen up the headlights and have them point downward and leave a lot of room between you and the vehicles ahead of you so your lights don't adversely affect them. Get back to the hub. Give up tractor, write it up on the DVIR and notify your manager of said issue as you hand the keys in so that he is aware of the problem and so that he won't redispatch the truck 10 minutes later because he didn't glance at your particular D.V.I.R that was buried in a stack of of other D.V.I.R.'s.

 

[UPSF Peeon]

if you refuse to drive any equipment you are fired here

you might get your job back if the worthless union decides to do there job on that particular day

seen it happen to many times, drove tractors with cracked frames and air leaks

love this company


cant wait for the joe unions and so called stewards to come in here....the guys we got stewards around here only work 2 days a week, they scratch managements back and management scratches theres

 

[Raw]

Whats funny is alot of what you mentioned happens when sups ride with the employee. Anyone remember the photo someone took of their sup not wearing his belt????

I truely find that hard to believe. I have yet to catch one supervisor with out a seatbelt on - even inside of the building.

We had a visiting sup ride the side of the truck on the passenger side like a trash man through the building because he was on the phone and could not get the jump seat down one handed (I know it doesn't make sense). When someone called him on it he said, "You got me" and gave them a t-shirt from the safety awards closet as is the practice in our building if you catch a sup doing something unsafe. And just think, if I don't wear my seat belt I get fired.

I know a supe who will sit in the jumpseat to and back from the route but will STAND all day on the steps holding the handrail when the pkg car is moving, even talking on his cell phone while doing that!!

 

[UPSF Peeon]

i meant to vote no

 

[stevetheupsguy]

In answering the question ( posted in the title of the thread) to myself, I found the quick and definitive way to answer it was to rephrase it this way " Would you risk termination by operating unsafe equipment?" . By doing that , I put both "risking termination" and "operating unsafe equipment" on the same side of the ledger where they belong, in my opinion. If by operating that unsafe equipment, it puts you in a position of having your job taken away from you as a result of the actions due to the unsafe equipment, i.e an accident, then I think it is a no brainer. Refuse to drive that vehicle unless it is fixed or replaced with another one.

I suppose it is easier for a tractor to be swapped out for another than it is for a package car that is already loaded so maybe that option of swapping out is more readily accepted in feeders than it would be for the package delivery side of operations.

That much being said, be a little creative, carry with you extra bulbs(the mechanics generally are happy to supply you with them, emphasis on "generally"). A marker light being out ain't a big deal but a turn signal that doesn't work can result in an accident and a ticket for "failure to signal" which places the blame on you as a driver. If the problem can be fixed with a new bulb, great. If you can trace the wire and find the break , great. If not, then don't drive and if you do(free will), be sure you are aware of the consequences that can result from the equipment that is defective.


That's all I gotta say for the time being.

Ha Ha Ha, I suppose I should be carrying a tool belt as well. You feeder driver's have way too much time on your hands. Yes, that's a shot, cach!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Our center mechanic and I were able to save a road call by him guiding me through making the repairs via cell phone. A fuse had blown and he was able to diagnose based upon my description and talked me through how to replace the fuse without losing any other electrical functions. What could have easily been an hour was fixed in less than 10 minutes.

Of course, the Joe Unions are going to bitch that it is not my job to repair the PC and that I should have sat and waited and let the mechanic do his job but my time is much more important that the few $$$ I would have made sitting there. The mechanic did his job through me.

 

[trplnkl]

The true Joe Union's would tell you to set there and wait for the mechanic, not for the OT you would gain but for the OT you would be taking away from the mechanic if you didn't wait. Not saying that it is right or wrong, just what I think the more zealous unionites would say.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The true Joe Union's would tell you to set there and wait for the mechanic, not for the OT you would gain but for the OT you would be taking away from the mechanic if you didn't wait. Not saying that it is right or wrong, just what I think the more zealous unionites would say.

It was Friday afternoon and he was heading to hunting camp as I called him. He wanted to fix it over the phone as badly as I wanted it fixed so that we could both get on with our days.

 

[cachsux]

You feeder driver's have way too much time on your hands. Yes, that's a shot, cach!

This from a guy with how many children?

 

[stevetheupsguy]

It was Friday afternoon and he was heading to hunting camp as I called him. He wanted to fix it over the phone as badly as I wanted it fixed so that we could both get on with our days.

Is this the only mechanic in upstate NY?

 

[tieguy]

if you refuse to drive any equipment you are fired here

you might get your job back if the worthless union decides to do there job on that particular day

seen it happen to many times, drove tractors with cracked frames and air leaks

love this company


cant wait for the joe unions and so called stewards to come in here....the guys we got stewards around here only work 2 days a week, they scratch managements back and management scratches theres

when I hear this point made the first question that comes to mind is what is the mechanic saying about what you call unsafe equipment. Ultimately thats my referee if I have to make that decision.

 

[tieguy]

I know a supe who will sit in the jumpseat to and back from the route but will STAND all day on the steps holding the handrail when the pkg car is moving, even talking on his cell phone while doing that!!

is he the guy that leads you in stretching exercises?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Is this the only mechanic in upstate NY?

In 1290 on a Friday afternoon--yes.

 

[pc mechanic]

pickup you have it half right. write it up in the dvir book & turn you yellow sheet in. telling the manager about this will do little. it is the next driver's job to review the dvir book & make shure it is signed off by mechanic as being repaired. what you are telling the manager is that you dont think that the next driver will do his job so he should go do it for him. by law it is the drivers job not the managers. he knows this and will do little about it

 

[pickup]

pickup you have it half right. write it up in the dvir book & turn you yellow sheet in. telling the manager about this will do little. it is the next driver's job to review the dvir book & make shure it is signed off by mechanic as being repaired. what you are telling the manager is that you dont think that the next driver will do his job so he should go do it for him. by law it is the drivers job not the managers. he knows this and will do little about it

Yeah, I hear ya. I am just trying to make it easier for that next driver. By informing the dispatcher, I make it easier on him so that if he has 100 drivers to dispatch and 105 trucks, he can easily not dispatch the tractor that I wrote up. Hopefully, by doing that , the next time a driver steps into that tractor and reviews the DVIR book, he will not only see the problem written up but also the signature of the mechanic who fixed the problem. If I say nothing to the dispatch , he might very easily hand the keys over to the next driver ten minutes later.