FedEx Freight | Safety Events and their Consequences

SwampRatt

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Often we don't think about the consequences of making a mistake in the area of safety. We probably should.

It might be interesting to know exactly what the penalty could/would be if we were guilty, either by errors of judgement, or negligence. Knowing the potential could instill a stronger determination be safe, no matter what.


There are quite a few Safety events and their Consequences we could cover, if anyone wants to.
 
The trigger for bringing this up was a roll away.

Case in point: Recently I became aware of an incident involving an “unattended roll away”. Yes, a severe error with high and significant potential for damage, loss of life, etc.

This case involves the driver, not yet backed into a dock, leaving the truck to go inside. Upon return, the truck was gone. He had the key in his pocket. The truck had rolled away narrowly missing a couple of cars, and collided with a dumpster, damaging the truck.

The event occurred on a Thursday. The driver was informed that the would be required to “stand down” (interestingly, their term) until further review was complete. No other information was provided to the driver as to what to expect.

After 3 days off, the driver was offered dock work. Again no idea was offered at to how long this “stand down” order, or review process, might last. After a week it was determined that he would be cleared to drive again, after some extensive safety re-education and testing. Also there is said to be an upcoming conference call with appropriate company authorities, prior to his return to driving.

I'm curious, is the the standard procedure for this type of event? I know it has happened before, somewhere. Is there a reason to keep the driver in limbo, beyond the goal of raising his level of concern? An event such as this is not done intentionally, and I'm not sure if it is a cause for termination, as a first offence. The above process makes it seem that it "could" be.
:idunno:


Two reasons for bringing this up:

1) I'm curious about the policy. Is it handled on a case by case basis?

2) I think it helps to raise awareness. I've never seen a pre-shift or educational presentation on the topic, but it seems worthy.



*Note: An easy solution that can prevent many accidental roll aways? Any time there is no wheel chock available, pull the red air line.
 
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It's happened several times at our center over the years but not to myself...knock on wood!!

As for discipline, I can't answer because I've never asked what they endured or to what extent. I know in every case the drivers were "stood down" (prevented from driving) for a defined period of time and they had to go through education as well as participate in the conference call, but whether or not their jobs were at stake is unknown.

My guess is that for a "first offense", albeit a serious event, termination probably isn't on the table but for those who have multiple "events", especially those within the 12/36 month periods, termination could/would be a high probability.
 
In the event of a major accident, or multiple accidents, a driver review board is convened. If you get reviewed, you can't drive until after the process is concluded. A group of drivers and managers review the driver's history. They must be from a different region and aren't told the drivers name or location, only the details of his/her history and the current event that triggered the review. I'm told it's typical for the drivers to be harsher than the managers in the discussion.

This board determines whether the driver is "re-trained" or "disqualified". Disqualified drivers are offered part time dock positions. Drivers that are on the review boards typically won't admit it, and are paid clock time to review and participate via phone.

Am told that disqualification usually only occurs when a driver has multiple events, specifically at least 2 accidents, with one being a gross negligence type, in example failing to set the brakes and park in gear. A catastrophic accident like a totaled set can cause disqualification as well.

Please drive safely, your life and your job depend on it....
 
Not sure if a yard roll away rises to the level of termination, but out on the streets it might be a different story. Happened several years back in a Norteast barn and driver was told to stand down for 3 days and returned to work.
Truck was backed into dock without parking brake set. When driver returned from handing in paperwork the truck was halfway across the parking lot and sustained grill damage.
If this were to happen out on the streets it could be pretty significant, not so much in the yard imo
 
Striking a pedestrian is an automatic critical written for the first occurrence.
Doesn't matter if it is with a tractor, trailer, hostling unit or forklift.
I know of one particular instance where the pedestrian was written up for "careless walking."
The person that struck the pedestrian was put on the dock and had to re qualify. He had that critical written hanging over his head for one year.
 
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